Malawi football coach welcomes opportunities for new players to shine

Malawi coach hopes young troops shine at Cosafa cup

JOHANNESBURG, June 17 (ANA) – Malawi coach Meck Mwase is eager for his youthful squad to give glimpses, or perhaps even more, of their potential at the Council of Southern African Football Associations (Cosafa) Cup in Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa, next month

The tournament takes place from July 7 to 18.

Mwase said: “This competition is very important as it provides a platform for young players to get exposed.

“It is also good that the format has been revised and every team will have a chance to play same number of games in the preliminaries. We will wait for the draw on Thursday then come up with our preparations plan.”

The 12-team tournament will see the addition of west African powerhouse Senegal to the field this year as they make a guest appearance.

Senegal is the top-ranked side in Africa at number 22 in the world, and will make their debut in Cosafa competition.

The other 10 sides confirmed so far are no strangers to the Cosafa Cup and include hosts South Africa, defending champions Zambia and record six-time winners Zimbabwe.

Others to have booked their place are Botswana, Comoros Islands, eSwatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique and Namibia.

The tournament will also provide a good chance for sides to prepare for looming World Cup qualifiers, said Mwase.

“It’s good that the competition is back this year after an absence last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It will give us a very good platform to fine-tune for our 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifiers that start in September.” – African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Michael Sherman