* Fans express their dissatisfaction on coach Fazili’s assertion that he is building a team — mpaka liti (until when)?
* This is worrisome now, the results are denting the image of the foreigh-based players like Tabitha and Kadzere
Analysis by Duncan Mlanjira
After beating Zambia 3-2 in February in the second friendly match following a 0-2 defeat three days earlier, Malawi Scorchers went on to lose 0-4 on aggregate (0-2 each in two games) against South Africa in April before losing 2-4 against Morocco on Thursday and 1-3 against Ghana yesterday.
Advertisement
Both matches were played in Morocco at Kenitra Stadium in Casablanca against the hosts, who invited the Scorchers for the friendly, and against fellow visitors Ghana at Ziaida Palace Complex.
In their 5th international friendly on Thursday — against one of top billing women’s football national team, Morocco, whom they were meeting for the first time ever — the Scorchers led 2-0 up until the 40th minute from goals by France-based captain, Tabitha Chawinga in the 27th minute from the penalty spot and from another France-based Rose Kabzere eight minutes later (35’).
But in the 40th, Bernadettar Mkandawire scored an own goal as she was trying to clear the ball from the line and from there the hosts opened the floodgates to score three more in 42’, 56’ and in added time.
FAM Media reported that the Scorchers were forced into playing in their own half and they were being terrorised by Idtissam Jraidi, who scored a brace.
Against Ghana, the Scorchers also went ahead in the 15th minute through Tendai Sani but went on to lose 1-3 — goals conceded in 23’, 32’ and 81’.
Coach Lovemore Fazili, who is preparing the team for the all-important Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAfCON) qualifiers against Angola in October, told FAM Media after the loss to Morocco, that it gave given his side a good training match, saying there were a lot of lessons he would build on going into next assignments.
But having made that assurance, the loss to Ghana hasn’t been taken lightly by fans who observe that Fazili’s tactics seem to fall short of the top players he
He has perfect arsenal in the foreign-based players, who are plying their trade in top-notch leagues elsewhere — Tabitha Chawinga (Olympique Lyon/France), Rose Kabzere (Montpellier/France), Sabina Thom (Lanchkhuti/Georgia), and Vanessa Chikupira & Bernadettar Mkandawire (both Biik Kazygurt/Kazakhstan) — including US-based Temwa Chawinga of Kansas City Currents, who was not part of the squad to Morocco.
Commenting of FAM Facebook page, fans expressed their dissatisfaction on Fazili’s assertion that he is building a team — “mpanga mpaka liti (until when)? This is worrisome now,” said Mike Trent Mgemezulu.
Langford Zimba took a swipe at the current FAM administration by taking cognizance that the national teams “are not producing results as we used to know”, while Fransisco Kaweche hinted that the results are denting the image of the foreign-based players such as Tabitha and Kadzere.
On the match against Ghana, Yahya Iliyas observed that the Scorchers were again “first to get a goal but ended up conceding 3 goals, the same mistakes against Morocco. This is a clear indication that, despite having more friendly games, there is no progress by the team, it is stagnated.”
Jonathan Stambuli agreed with this observation, saying the team is not improving yet it has very good players but the tactics are “poor”.
Yona Mvula pointed out that “the main problem with the Scorchers is the coach and his technical team — they are not creative. We have intelligent and creative players who need to be trained to play the ball properly, develop a playing system, a passing game.
“[There is] need to replace the two heavy goalkeepers [and we] need to identify fast and strong defenders.”
The goalkeepers
Ruth Mkwepele also scoffs at the usual rhetoric that “they played well as we are building a team” but until when. But SoccerViews indicated that the Scorchers are playing teams above them in as far as rankings are concerned — and “that’s good development, team igwilana”.
Which Alick Kazembe seemed to agree saying these were “friendly matches and the technical panel have seen where to fix” the shortfalls.
Mphatso Zainga observed that when the lineup against Ghana was released “we were all celebrating kuti asintha goalkeeper, can we talk again now? Maybe the problem is not only Sikelo but all goalkeepers”.
“They need to improve or else we should starting looking for Under-17 or 20 to [replace] them. We are all shooting at the coach — maybe we don’t know what we want also.”
Meanwhile, in an interview with FAM Media after the match, Fazili contends that his girls played well but Ghana were more tactical: “The match was good and the girls played very well more especially in the first half.
“Unfortunately, we have lost because we were playing with a more experienced side. In the second half, we were second on the ball and gave away the goal to them.
“We have learnt a lot of lessons having played the two teams Morocco and Ghana on top of the other friendlies we had against Zambia and South Africa.
Now that we have had a taste of how teams from the other regions play, we are very confident that we are ready to compete at high levels” he is quoted as saying, adding that he is confident in the team he has built ahead of October’s crucial WAfCON qualifier against Angola.
“Now with just three months before meeting Angola, I believe that we now have a team and though all the foreign-based players were not present at once, we have been monitoring them and we hope that they will all be there when we meet Angola and it will be a strong side,” he told FAM Media.
Advertisement