Flames Out to Roast Warriors

Malawi are confident of completing a double over Zimbabwe when they clash in a dead-rubber African Cup of Nations soccer qualifier at Barbourfields on Sunday.

The Flames of Malawi -- now under British coach Steve Constantine - beat the Warriors 1-0 in March last year in their first Group 12 encounter and will bring a strong squad for the return match which they believe is very important to their football.

The first batch of the Flames delegation arrived yesterday morning with four officials and one player -- Moses Chavula -- the man who was responsible for throwing the Warriors campaign off the rails, scoring the priceless goal that sank the Zimbabwean hearts in their first meeting in March last year.

The rest of the Malawian squad is scheduled to touch down at the Harare International Airport this morning and will include former CAPS United star midfielder Joseph Kamwendo, who is now with South African giants Orlando Pirates.

Steven Sambira, the Football Association of Malawi vice-president and head of the Malawian delegation, told The Herald yesterday that they were taking the match against the Warriors seriously and believes the Flames have improved so much that they can complete a double over them.

He said since they crashed out of the African Cup of Nations finals with Morocco winning the three-team group, they have since shifted their focus to building a team for 2010 and with Briton Constantine, the Malawians believe they have the right man to fulfil their dreams.

Constantine was appointed manager of the Flames on February 2 this year.

He has previously managed the national teams of Nepal and India.

In September 2005, Constantine returned to England to become a first-team coach at lower division side Millwall.

He stayed at the club for the remainder of the 2005-2006 season, as Millwall were relegated to League One, before he moved to Malawi.

The Briton has been in charge of the Flames for five games and has lost all of them.

But Sambira said they were not reading much into that record, pointing out that Constantine was just familiarising himself with Malawian football

"We believe we have a very good coach, we have seen what he has been trying to do since he came in back in February.

"He is working very hard to build a foundation for the African Cup of Nations and the World Cup finals in 2010.

"We failed to qualify for next year's Nations Cup finals in Ghana but we are very determined to make it to the 2010 finals and we are working flat out to build a strong team for the World Cup as well.

"We've got so many talented youngsters that he (Constantine) is working with and we believe we can come up with a very strong team. "He has already identified a 19-year-old player, Taonga Chimodzi, the son of former Flames defender Young Chimodzi.

"The youngster is playing for Santos in South Africa and is a very good central midfielder. "He is one of the many players we hope will form the core of the Flames' future squad and we are happy with the direction the coach is taking."

However, Constantine has lost five times in as many matches he has been in charge of the Flames, including the friendly international loss at home to Senegal and the 0-1 Nations Cup defeat to Morocco before succumbing to South Africa, Swaziland and Namibia in this year's Cosafa Castle Cup.

They also lost 2-1 to Namibia on July 6 in their Independence celebrations but Constantine has the backing of his football chiefs, who refuse to read much into the unattractive statistics.

"He is only trying to build a foundation for development, we know the team hasn't won since he took over but we can't assess him on those results. "We can see what he is trying to achieve for the nation but he remains positive that he can win against Zimbabwe."

The Fam official said they came here determined to win Sunday's match at Barbourfields, having already done so on home soil. He reckoned that every game that his country plays is very important and the clash against the Warriors is no exception.

"The coach is very optimistic that we can be able to build a strong team, it's only that he has been getting to know the players. "But he will bring a strong team and this match is very important; that is why we are bringing the same squad that beat Zimbabwe last year.

"Every game that we play is very important to us, whether it's a friendly or not. That is why this match means a lot to us and the coach.

"He has just started out and his main objective is to play for victory while he is building a team.

"When we play football, we play to win and we are very confident of beating Zimbabwe. That is why we came here. "Our main objective is to win, we have got a good team and at the moment we are building our team around experienced players and the youngsters," said Sambira.

Malawi - barring any last-minute injuries - are expected to be without only three players, according to the Fam vice-president, due to injury and suspensions with former Monomotapa utility player Peter Mponda, Denmark-based Clement Kafafwa and James Chilapondwa (suspension) all out.