Despite his team’s 4-0 home defeat to Egypt in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe on Tuesday, the Flames head coach Mario Marinica says he will not resign.
Speaking after the match, Marinica said he wants to make sure the Flames pick positive results from the next round of qualifier matches against Guinea and Ethiopia.
The Romanian tactician revealed that he will not resign but wait for his contract to run down in the first week of April.
“I am not someone who can just resign,” he said. “There is nothing here you see. People are just exaggerating. In football sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, that’s football.”
Marinica disclosed that his contract with the Football Association of Malawi (FAM) had no targets to reach, hence he had not failed with the Flames.
“On the issue of failing to reach the target, the target you are saying is not my target. There are people who have targets; I don’t have any targets in my contract; sometimes people have high hopes, and it happens,” he stated.
Marinica upset with ‘unpatriotic’ Malawians for cheering Mo Salah instead of the Flames
Tuesday’s defeat to Egypt saw Malawi’s hopes of reaching a second consecutive AFCON vanishing.
The Pharaohs and Guinea are on the brink of qualifying for the Ivory Coast AFCON as they only need a point each in Group D. Malawi and Ethiopia will have to win both their last two matches to qualify.
Marinica was also upset with the home crowd for cheering for Liverpool star Mohammed Salah and the Egyptian players, and branded them ‘unpatriotic’.
“Malawians were busy cheering Egypt and Mohammed Salah which is wrong and this is uncalled and unpatriotic behavior,” said Marinica.
After four matches, Malawi has only managed to pick 3 points in the AFCON qualifiers. They face Ethiopia in June this year before hosting Guinea in September.
Marinica took over from Meke Mwase who qualified the Flames for the 2021 AFCON where they reached the knockout stage for the first in history with the former defender as a co-coach.
Malawi held eventual winners Senegal to a hard-fought 0-0 draw to finish third in the group, which also had Guinea and Zimbabwe.
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They qualified for the knockout stages for the first time by virtue of their better record compared to the other third-best teams in the group stage of the competition.
As it stands, it appears unlikely that the Southern Africans will be present at the 2023 edition next year.
