DR Congo captain Lua Lua speaks on Malawi defeat

DR Congo captain and the scorer of Congo’s only goal Lomana Lualua when they went down to Malawi 1-2 says Malawi was too versatile and deserved to win at the end of the day.

Lualua an averagely better top African striker plays in Qatar after being offloaded from Panathinaikos where he played for a season.

The former Naewcastle forward said he was astonished with the team’s never die spirit that enabled it to come back into the game in the second half and level terms before hitting the winner in the dying minutes through Escom skipper Chiukepo Msowoya.

“I wish Malawi all the best, they deserved the best, we exposed ourselves and they shifted their system and put our defense at pressure as a result they got chances every minute, I can see Malawi going all the way in the competition,” said Lualua.

Malawi's coach local breed Kinnah Phiri says he has set his eyes on World Cup after his team came from behind to emphatically thump the star studded Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) 2-1 at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre.

DR Congo had a squad of only two locals the rest were Europe based professionals playing in Belgium, France, Greece, Qatar among others.
innah says the nature of Saturday win testifies that World Cup is within reaching distance for the Flames and that Malawi players can take on any team in the world even Brazil.

"All we have been denied in the past is resources and technical expertise, right now government is supportive, we have the players, we have good technical capability, we can take on any team even Brazil, my only prayer is that we should keep this spirit.

“In the next round my target is not only Africa Cup but World Cup because it is within reaching distance to me,” he said.

Malawi can only qualify to the World Cup if it can top its group in the second round whose games start next year.

Two Malawi players Robert Baggio Ngambi who scored the first goal and defender James Sangala were seriously injured and were replaced by Jimmy Zakazaka and Wisdom Ndhlovu.

In his speech, scorer of the winning goal Chiukepo Msowoya said: “I am the happiest man on earth, I scored the winner during Egypt, today, and I have scored another winner against DR Congo, but most of all I must praise Malawi fans for being ever supportive.”

Malawi needed just a win to progress to the second round of joint Africa and World Cup qualifiers. Fifa is expected to conduct a draw on the teams in the second round. Depending on results of the games in other groups to determine second placed teams, Malawi can succeed to the second round on second best team slot.

Sports Minister Symon Vuwa Kaunda declared a day of jubilation after the match at the stadium and advised the police to slow down blocking people.