Malawi assistant coach Lovemore Fazili must have wanted to mention ‘revenge’ in reaction to being drawn in Group B alongside rivals Zambia in next month’s Cosafa Cup.

Instead, Fazili merely said the Flames were happy to be drawn in the same group alongside the neighbours Zambia, Comoros and Madagascar.

“We are very happy to have the same group with Zambia and this is what also we have been looking for in Cosafa Cup. We are happy to face Zambia and definitely, this time around, we have to play to win,” Fazili told Football Association of Malawi media.

He was reacting to Thursday’s draw for the 2021 edition of Southern Africa’s premier football competition to take place in South Africa from July 7 to 18 in Port Elizabeth.

Fazili added meeting the Chipolopolo presents the Flames a perfect opportunity to atone for the post-match penalty loss to the neighbours in the 2019 edition.

In that quarter-final meeting, Malawi led 2-0 for the better part of the 90 minutes.

However, catastrophic defensive lapses to grant Zambia a way back into the game which eventually went into the penalties.

Fazili said memories of such defeat are fresh among members of the Meck Mwase-led coaching panel.

Fazili, who is self-isolating alongside head coach Meck Mwase and defender Peter Cholopi after testing positive for Covid-19, has since cautioned against underrating Comoros and Madagascar.

“It looks like Zambia is the only difficult team [in the group] but considering the tournament, how the set up is, we are supposed to be careful with Comoros and Madagascar. We are supposed to win and be on top of these nations. We are going to prepare very well not only for Zambia but also for Comoros and Madagascar,” he said.

Fazili said Malawi would further be motivated by the fact that they have never won the Cosafa title.

Malawi’s best performance in the competition was reaching the final of the 2002 and 2003 editions when they lost by 4-1 margins over two legs to South Africa and Zimbabwe respectively.