Malawi women’s fotball team coach Lovemore Fazili is happy to face Zambia during the next week’s Three Nations Tournament at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe.
Three countries—Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Zambia—have confirmed participation after South Africa pulled out.
Malawi will open the tournament against Zimbabwe on Friday, 28th November, before facing Zambia on Sunday, 30th November.
Speaking to Bola News, coach Fazili is happy that he will face WAFCON 2022 Bronze winner, Zambia in the tournament.
He said, “It will give us a real test of the tournament because Zambia is also going to Morocco. You never know, we might be paired with Zambia, so if we play Zambia today, and next year we are in the same group, we will know how strong and weak Zambia will be in Morocco. It’s unfortunate that one team [South Africa] is not coming.”
Fazili has since retained 24 of the 25 players who featured in the recent WAFCON qualifiers against Angola, with the only change being the inclusion of FCB Nyasa Big Bullets goalkeeper Thoko Mwase.
“Our focus is to address weak areas” – Fazili.
Fazili said there is no need to change his squad because they are trying to come up with the final squad ahead of next year’s WAFCON.
“This is not the time to try players, but still if we have an outstanding player within, I will invite her to the squad.
“Our focus now is to work out on a few areas like goalkeeping, midfield, and even attacking. This tournament will help us to tighten those areas,” he said.
Asked about targets he has set for this tournament, Fazili said there are no targets.
“I don’t want to set targets for girls; we want to straighten out our team, forget about targets,” he added.
The Malawi coach has also said Temwa Chawinga will not be part of the team following an injury she sustained when playing for her club.
READ ALSO: Malawi’s Temwa Chawinga Makes NWSL History with Back-to-Back MVP Awards.
