Saintfiet proud of his squad

Flames caretaker coach Tom Saintfiet has said despite losing to Cosafa Cup defending champions Zimbabwe’s Warriors on Saturday in Lusaka, Zambia, he is proud of his team.

The Flames lost 3-1 in a dreaded penalty shoot-out, which exposed glaring shortcomings in Flames’ talent in taking penalties.

Malawi trailed Zimbabwe 0-1 in the first-half. But despite playing one player less after defender James Sangala was sent off on the stroke of half-time for a second caution, Saintfiet’s second-half tactics led his charges to launch an outstanding comeback to force the game into the spot kicks.

“Here is a coach who is disappointed with the result, but proud of his team,” said Saintfiet after the game, his first in charge of the Malawi side.

“We played well in the second-half. I am not happy that such a nice game could be decided on penalties,” he said.

Saintfiet also took a swipe at Zambian referee Janny Sikazwe for sending defender James Sangala for an early shower for a second bookable offence.

Sangala is proving to be too costly for the Flames as this was the third time that he has been sent off in recent games.

“I was surprised by that red card on Sangala. It was too harsh,” Saintfeit was quoted as saying by the Sunday Mail.

“I think the referee was too harsh, he has given the player a yellow card and should have given a final warning and ask him to calm down because there was still a lot of time to play,” said Saintfiet.

Malawi scored only one penalty through Chiukepo Msowoya while Bongani Kaipa sent his skywards. Gastin Simkonda’s shot missed the goalmouth by inches while John Lanjesi’s was saved by goalkeeper Maxwell Nyamupanedingu.

Zimbabwe scored three of their four penalties to book their quarter-final berth of the competition.

“If you miss three of the four penalties we took, that is unacceptable,” noted the Malawi coach.

He, however, commended the Warriors for a storming first-half. He also gave credit to his players for their fightback in which they had the champions on the back foot for the better part of the second-half.

Meanwhile, former Flames captain Peter ‘Mjojo’ Mponda has said there is a lot to be done if the Flames are to realise their ambitious dream of upsetting the tables against Nigeria’s Super Eagles in September.

“We have to be honest with ourselves that it is going to be an uphill task to beat Nigeria if the current performance is anything to go by,” said Mponda who captained the Flames for seven years.

The Flames have since ‘relocated’ to 2013 Cosafa Castle Cup quarter-final losers’ plate division after their loss to Zimbabwe.

Before returning home, Malawi face Angola on Tuesday, according to www.cosafa.com

Namibia, who lost 2-1 in Saturday’s second quarter-final, take on either Zambia or Mozambique, who met yesterday in the final quarter-final.

This edition of the regional showpiece has, unlike the previous competitions, given one more chance of football for losing quarter-finalists.

There were fears in some quarters that the Flames could, after the loss, be on their way back home just one game into interim coach Saintfiet’s assignment.

“I am a big supporter of Cosafa as it gives teams in the region an opportunity to give exposure to up-and-coming players,” he said.

Before Saturday’s game, Saintfiet told SuperSport television that he supports Cosafa’s football initiative.