No coach yet for scorchers
Malawi women’s football national team, the Scorchers is yet to have a coach barely one month to the Cosafa Women’s Football Championship in South Africa kicking off on September 15.
But Football Association of Malawi (FAM) general secretary Alfred Gunda and National Women’s Football Association (NWFA) chairperson Suzgo Ngwira yesterday played down the delayed appointment of a coach.
Gunda could not as well tell when the new technical panel will be in place.
He said: “I cannot say when the new technical panel will be appointed, but that will be done soon. However, the delays should not be a cause for worry because all our local players are currently active through the ongoing FAM Women’s Regional Leagues.
“We worked with such a contingency plan before and nothing will go amiss in our preparations for the Cosafa event.”
On her part, Ngwira said although the Scorchers are yet to know their technical staff and are paired against strong sides, they will be ready for battle.
“In the last edition, we were also in a tough group, where we were not given a chance against our neighbours Zambia, but we managed to beat them. We know having the technical panel in place is a priority at present, but delays cannot affect our performance at the event this year,” she said.
But Scorchers captain Tabitha Chawinga yesterday said the prospective panel should maintain the squad that took part in the last Cosafa edition.
“There is no time remaining for the prospective new technical panel to include new faces in the squad, unless there are some gaps to be filled. The current squad has to be maintained if we are to do well at Cosafa,” she said.
During yesterday’s draw, the Scorchers were drawn alongside Cosafa women’s reigning champions South Africa, Angola and Mozambique in Group A. Group B has Botswana, Zimbabwe and guests Tanzania and South Sudan while Zambia, Namibia, E-swatini and guests Uganda are in Group C.
The Cosafa Women’s Championship will kick off on September 15 to 26, Nelson Mandela Bay in South Africa for the fourth year in a row and it is scheduled for September 15 to 26.
