Warriors legend says Flames have potential

Zimbabwe’s football legend Peter Ndlovu has said the Flames have the potential to go far in the 2014 World Cup campaign if they can rectify their weak areas.

Ndlovu, who is assistant national team coach, was speaking soon after Saturday’s international friendly match between the Flames and the Warriors of Zimbabwe.

“The game itself was not up to scratch probably because both teams were trying some new players, but from my perspective, Malawi has quite a number of promising players such as number 7 [Robin Ngalande], the captain [Lucky Malata] and indeed a few others.

“And considering that they featured only one foreign-based player, they have the potential to do well in the 2014 World Cup qualification campaign if only they can work on their few weak areas, especially coordination and building up attacks,” said Ndlovu who at the peak of his career played in the English Premiership for six years.

Commenting on the game, Ndlovu said: “I think a draw was a fitting result. In the first half, we dominated but in the second half, Malawi raised the tempo until the closing stages when we came back into the game and got an equaliser,” said Ndlovu who has 100 international caps.

Ndlovu twice captained Zimbabwe when they qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations in 2004 and 2006.

Unlike the Flames, realistically, the Warriors are out of contention for World Cup qualification and will use the remaining games to build a team for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

Their next game is against Egypt’s Pharaohs next month.

The Warriors will also face the Flames in the quarter-finals of the revived Cosafa Castle Cup in Zambia in July.