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Mtawali says Cosafa Cup draw fair

Coach Ernest Mtawali has described the 2015 Cosafa Castle Cup draw—which has pitted the Flames against Angola, Lesotho and Mauritius in Group B—as fair.

According to the draw which was held on Thursday evening, winners of Group B will meet South Africa’s Bafana Bafana in the quarter-finals.

Phiri (R) is expected to make a second appearance at Cosafa Cup
Phiri  is expected to make a second appearance at Cosafa Cup

Group A features Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Seychelles and one of the surprise packages from 2015, Madagascar.

“It is a fair group, we couldn’t have asked for anything better, suffice to say that there are no longer underdogs though on paper, Angola appear to be our stumbling block,” said Mtawali yesterday.

The Flames mentor also said they are taking the tournament seriously as the ultimate goal is to win the regional showpiece which has eluded the Flames since its inception in 1997.

“If we can’t win it then at least we should get to the finals,” he said.

Mtawali also hinted that apart from a predominantly-local-based squad, he is considering drafting in a few foreign-based players such as Robin Ngalande and Gerald Phiri Jnr, who are not enjoying game time at their respective clubs.

The tournament will be staged in Namibia from June 11-25. The first round group stage will take up the first week of the tournament from June 11, with just the top team in each pool advancing to the quarter-finals.

The championship then continues in a knockout format, with the quarter-final losers dropping into the Plate competition that was first introduced in 2013 and was claimed by Malawi last year. n

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