Epac, Silver game postponed

The club versus country saga continues to bear upon local fixtures, the latest being the delayed Presidential Cup round of 16 qualifier between Epac and Silver Strikers.

The game was scheduled to take place this afternoon at Civo Stadium, but Football Association of Malawi (FAM) has been forced to cancel the fixture because the Bankers’ four players are in camp with the Flames.

Silver coach Franco Ndawa yesterday confirmed that the game has been put on hold following rules of the competition.

“But let me stress that even without the four players, we would have still been able to play, but we are following the rules,” said Ndawa.

The four players are goalkeeper Charles Swini, defender Lucky Malata, midfielders Young Chimodzi Jnr and Frank Banda. They also contributed Ndaziona Chatsalira who has been released after picking an injury.

FAM competitions officer Gomezgani Zakazaka confirmed the postponement of the match.

“It has indeed been postponed to next weekend because Silver has four players with the national team,” he said.

Asked if the development will not affect the competition’s tight schedule, since next weekend was specifically earmarked for the quarter-finals, Zakazaka said: “We’ll try to play around with some fixtures so that we finish the tournament as planned [during the weekend of June 29-30].

However, Epac coach Abas Makawa was not amused at the postponement.

“We spent a lot of resources and time on preparations only to be told at the eleventh hour that the game is not on,” said Makawa.