Malawi U-20 complete Cosafa tourney with another loss
The Malawi Under-20 national football team yesterday completed their Cosafa Under-20 Championship assignments without scoring a goal.
Malawi lost their last match 0-1 to Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) at Moruleng Stadium in Rustenburg, South Africa.
According to live updates on Council of Southern Africa Football Federations (Cosafa) website www.cosafa.com, Malawi had a number of scoring chances but they failed to convert them.
“DRC lead 1-0, [through Nathan Lusuki’s 25th minute header], but it could have been worse for Malawi, who are blunt upfront,” reads part of the updates.
Malawi drew 0-0 with Zimbabwe and lost 0-3 to Zambia during group B encounters on Friday and Sunday, respectively.
The Congolese team face Zambia, who triumphed 2-0 over group D runners-up Mozambique. South Africa and Angola will battle in the other last-four match.
For Malawi, yesterday’s match was just for formality as they could not make it into the last-four.
Malawi coach Gerald Phiri attributed the unimpressive results to inadequate preparations.
“Overall, we played well, but our opponents were technically advanced and had older players than us. But we are not regretting because, with the experience gained, we will build a strong team for the future,” Phiri said in a telephone interview.
He added that the knee injury of their talisman Peter Banda prior to the tournament affected the efficiency of their attacking line. Banda won the Golden Boot during the Cosafa Under-17 Championship in Mauritius a few months ago.
