The Malawi Under-20 Men’s National Football Team faces a crucial encounter against Comoros tomorrow as the Junior Flames battle to keep their hopes of reaching the semi-finals of the COSAFA Under-20 Men’s Championship alive.
Malawi revived their qualification hopes with a convincing 3-0 victory over Botswana in their previous Group C encounter, but another positive result against Comoros will be crucial as the race for the remaining semi-final places reaches its decisive stage.
Head coach Enos Chatama says his charges are ready for the encounter, although James Lumbe and Clever Kalambo remain injury concerns.
“We are well prepared and the boys are in great shape. We are waiting for the doctor to clear James Lumbe and Clever Kalambo, who were injured in the first and second games respectively,” said Chatama.
The coach said the victory over Botswana has restored confidence in camp, but stressed the importance of scoring goals against Comoros.
“We are now confident that we can beat Comoros after our win against Botswana, although we need to score goals to be able to fight for the last slot in the semi-finals,” he said.
Chatama admitted that Malawi could have gone into the final group match in a stronger position had they converted more of the numerous chances created against Botswana.
“We had a lot of missed chances and we would want to bury those so as to brighten our chances to qualify, which is our goal. Although results from Groups A and B are also in question, we will fight for ourselves,” he said.
While the Junior Flames will focus on securing the required result against Comoros, their qualification prospects will also be influenced by results elsewhere.
The outcomes of the Mozambique versus Mauritius and Angola versus Lesotho matches will have a bearing on Malawi’s chances of securing one of the remaining semi-final places. With the qualification race going down to the final round of matches, the Junior Flames will be looking to take their chances and finish the group stage strongly.
