Pressure mounts for Marinica

A nation already in mourning after being ravaged by Cyclone Freddy has been further infuriated by Malawi’s Flames horrible performance in Cairo where they lost 2-0 to hosts Egypt’s Pharaohs in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.

While the score line might be respectable, what has enraged the fans back home is the team’s lack of inspiration in the match played at Air Defence Stadium.

The Flames simply did not come to the party as they failed to string more than three passes and opted to do it coach Mario Marinica’s way of ‘Fast and Very Fast Football’ style of long balls.

The results were catastrophic.

At half time, it was one way traffic and Malawi, having already conceded two goals, managed to complete 77 passes against Egypt’s 394 with  two shots on goal against the opposition’s 11.

Egypt had two shots on target resulting in the two goals while Malawi had none and a meagre 16 percent possession against the hosts’ 84.

At the end of the match, Malawi had no shot on goal, not even a corner kick and a 25 percent possession against Egypt’s 75.

The host finished with 677 completed passes against the Flames’ 228.

Football fans took to social media to express their anger at the Flames even before the match ended.

“Where do I start from? Who do I blame? Who do I not blame? Hard to imagine Gomezgani Chirwa is our Player of the Season.

“It’s an outright mismatch. The pace, technical ability, the stature, the speed of thought. Egypt just superior,” seasoned sports journalist Peter Kanjere twitted at half time.

Musa Omar could not believe it was the same Flames that made it to the Afcon.

He said: “What was that? Very embarrassing; no tactics.The players looked lost. Is this the same team that went to [Cameroon] Afcon finals?

“The team set the standards high after that Afcon. Now the same team looks lost. A decision must be made. A team can’t be going backwards instead of moving forward.”

Malawi National Council of Sports board chairperson Sunduzwayo Madise writing on Facebook in his own capacity, called for the Flames to return to its passing game.

He said: “I think we need to go back to our usual style of play. We are missing that natural flair, expressive and passing game. This game is excruciatingly painful to watch.”

But football analyst Dyson Kondeni Musa felt Malawi was simply outplayed by a better team.

He said: “Football is science. Our players lack football intelligence. What [Mohammed] Salah was doing is not from the coach. Our football problems are beyond the team that is in transit from Egypt.”

But another soccer analyst Charles Nyirenda differed with Musa, saying Egypt were not exceptional, only that the Flames allowed them to shine.

He said: “Often, Egypt are outstanding in Cairo but tonight, they didn’t outshine the Flames.

“It’s just that the Flames’ approach to the match was completely awful. By sitting back, they allowed Egypt to press high using serious wing attacks and switching sides to the left and right in a bid to stretch the defence.

“For sure, with a more positive approach from the first whistle and an appropriate starting XI, the match outcome could have been different.

“Maybe in the return leg on Tuesday, the boys will be far more aggressive. Once again, the defeat tonight was a wilful donation of points because of a wrong approach.”

On his part Marinica agreed that his troupes did not play according to the game plan as they gave the Egyptians too much respect.

He said: “Playing Egypt away is never an easy task, particularly when we haven’t done any justice to ourselves.

“We haven’t put to practice the game plan and you give them far too much respect. We let them build up instead of being much more aggressive which is our trademark.”

He, however, took comfort in second half performance as Malawi managed to hold the Egyptians to minimise the damage.

The coach said: “We should look at the positive side. We showed that we can put them under pressure. We showed that if we are determined and aggressive, we can do better.

“I am confident that in the return leg, with the determination and hard work and passing game we had in second half, we have a very good chance of a positive result.”

Captain John CJ Banda said the players take responsibility for the loss.

“I think the mistakes that we made cost us the game. There is another game on Tuesday and as players, we need to take responsibility. We know a lot of Malawians are disappointed. We will do all we can to get a positive result.”

The two sides clash in the second leg on Tuesday at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe.

Malawi lie third in Group D with three points while  Egypt top the table with six points followed by Guinea with six points as well after beating bottom placed Ethiopia 2-0.