The Flames will wrap up their Hollywoodbets COSAFA Cup Group stage campaign with a must-win match against Angola on Tuesday at the Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein.
Following a narrow defeat to Lesotho and a goalless draw against Namibia the Flames head into the final group stage game determined to secure nothing less than a win.
Despite Malawi’s failure to win their first two matches, Assistant Coach Peter Mponda has been impressed with the team’s progress, noting improvements in performance between the Lesotho and Namibia games.
“We are happy with the way the team is progressing,” Mponda stated. The way we played against Lesotho, yes, we said we played well, but we didn’t create chances, and football is only judged by results.
“After the game [against Lesotho], we analysed that we didn’t have enough numbers in the box. Against Namibia, we had numbers in the box, we created chances; unfortunately, we didn’t take some of them. We are looking forward to taking our chances in this game [against Angola].”
Mponda added that going into Tuesday’s do-or-die game, the team will maintain the same hunger for goals.
“We will still need that hunger for the goal, the fighting spirit which we showed against Namibia,”
“It was a very good performance, but I want to emphasise that football is only judged by results; therefore, we need to score goals. The way we played against Namibia, if we could have scored one or two goals, it would have been a very good performance. Unfortunately, we are only talking about performance.”
A win is crucial, and Peter Mponda acknowledges that Malawians solely demand results, and the team must deliver on Tuesday.
“Malawians are hungry; they want results. We strongly believe that we are going to give them the required results,” Mponda concluded.
Malawi must win against Angola, while the match between Lesotho and Namibia must end in a draw for the Flames to keep their qualification hopes alive.
Source: FAM
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