Malawi national team head coach Kalisto Pasuwa believes there will be excuses after tomorrow’s game against Zambia, who have sent locally based players and U-23s to the Four Nations tournament in Botswana.

The tournament was initially meant for senior national teams, but following an invitation for a friendly against Argentina, Zambia opted to send their youth side, who are preparing for the Olympic qualifiers.

“Zambia is one of the powerhouses in Southern Africa,” Pasuwa said ahead of the match. “Like I said, you need to be positive in order for you to grind results and play against Zambia. I’ve been talking to them [players] since the first day they came in, especially the other guy who plays out of Malawi who came in. I told him it’s not going to be easy.”

Pasuwa had hoped Zambia would send their first team to help him better assess his squad and predicted that the result would be judged regardless of the outcome.

“Zambia has sent their stronger side to Argentina, but we wanted stronger sides so that we can assess ourselves and see where we are in Southern Africa. So, in doing this now, it may be better to put a minus one on the other side. That’s why I am saying we are disadvantaged already. If you win against Zambia, then they’ll tell you it’s a B-side. You lose, they will say, ‘How can you lose to a B-side?'” bemoaned Pasuwa.

The winner between Malawi and Zambia will face either Botswana or Zimbabwe in the final on Tuesday.

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