Malawi coach Mario Marinica has advised the Flames fans against having expectations from Saturday’s African Nations Championship (CHAN) final qualifying round match against Mozambique.
The former Black Leopards mentor warned the fans that expectations could lead to disappointment if the Flames don’t win the match at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe.
“I don’t have that kind of approach. I never had that approach,” he told the press when asked whether his focus on the match was qualifying for the CHAN finals and spotting players who are ready for bigger challenges such as the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers.
“I keep saying to all Malawians: ‘don’t have an expectation, expectation is the road to disappointment because even if you achieve something, you expect it, so you don’t have the joy, all the time you keep wanting more and more…you may not achieve it, and you get disappointed.”
The Romania-born Englishman said his team did not have the best preparations for the game due to the non-availability of some players fulfilling club commitments and injuries.
“We have a lot of challenges, either the pitch was not ready like now it is not marked, the chemical is just being applied, so the pitch is not ready…we have been in Lilongwe for a week, but we didn’t have a chance to train at the Lilongwe stadium,” he said on Friday.
The former Azam trainer said he hoped his charges would stick to the game-plan and execute it well against the Mambas.
“Mozambique is a very good passing team, but the same thing goes with Ethiopia, a fantastic passing team. People didn’t realise how good Ethiopia was until they saw them beat Egypt. We know that at that level, we can have a very good performance provided we have a chance to put together a very good game-plan,” Marinica said.
The coach also forewarned the fans against having expectations in June when the Flames hosted Ethiopia in the AFCON qualifier played at the same Lilongwe venue where the Flames emerged 2-1 winners.
Eventually, Ethiopia stayed behind to host Egypt at the same Lilongwe venue due to the non-availability of a certified stadium in Ethiopia.
Now, Malawi and Mozambique are eyeing qualification to the finals of CHAN, which involves home-based players only.
The Flames made it to the final qualifying round without kicking the ball due to the suspension of their preliminary round opponents in Zimbabwe.
The Mambas qualified for this stage after beating Zambia 1-0 over two legs.
