Mtawali says Jnr Flames have a tall order
Malawi Under-20 national soccer team coach Ernest Mtawali has said while qualification for the 2015 CAF Africa Youth Championship appears to be within sniffing distance, it is still a tall order.
The Flames legend was reacting to his team’s qualification into the second round in which they will face the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) next month. The Junior Flames beat Botswana’s Young Zebras 3-2 on aggregate on Friday evening.
“The moment we start giving the lads an impression that we are there, then we will be losing the plot.
“To me, this mission is far from over. Otherwise, it could be a case of being so near and yet so far and we have been in such situations before,” said Mtawali.
He said there are still a number of areas that need to be worked on if they are to realise their dream of qualifying for Senegal 2015.
“We have a good team, no doubt about that. We beat Under-20 Cosafa champions Amajita [South Africa] in a build-up match and then we went on to get a positive result away in Gaborone, but there are still some loopholes that we need to work on. It is not going to be easy,” he said.
Mtawali said he will propose to authorities that the team, which flew back home on Saturday, should regroup this week.
Chawanangwa Kaonga was the hero for the Junior Flames against the Young Zebras when he struck a double in the second-half, before the hosts pulled one back in the last minute of added time through Onkabetse Makgantai.
Kaonga also scored the lone goal against Amajita.
