FAM to arrange Flames friendly with Tanzania
This was agreed during the Football Association of Malawi (FAM) executive board meeting also attended by Flames coach Kinnah Phiri at the weekend.
FAM chief executive officer Suzgo Nyirenda said the match against Tanzania will help the coach assess his foreign-based players, in particular those based in South Africa since they will not be part of the team that will travel to China later this month.
“Since the season in South Africa will end on May 19, it was agreed that we should arrange another international friendly match against a neighbouring country in which the foreign-based players should take part to help the team tune-up for Kenya,†said Nyirenda.
Strength of Tanzania
Kinnah revealed that the meeting agreed that the Flames should play Tanzania enroute to Nairobi for their first World Cup qualifier.
“We felt Tanzania would be ideal because they play a similar type of football to that of Kenya,†said Kinnah.
He also disclosed that local players are expected to go into camp on April 8 in preparation for the trip to China.
Nyirenda revealed that the FAM executive meeting agreed to setup Under-14 and Under-17 regional leagues as part of the youth development programme.
“In line with the grass roots development programme, it was agreed that we should start planning to introduce Under-14 and Under-17 leagues in the near future.
“Since discussions with a potential investor for a football academy are at advanced stage, it is proper that we should have proper structures in place. And the office of technical director [Jack Chamangwana] has been tasked to work on that while the administration will start working on securing sponsorship,†Nyirenda said.
