COSAFA SENIOR CHALLENGE CUP: MALAWI IN QUARTER FINALS

The COSAFA Senior Challenge features “the very best of Southern Africa’s talent and affords spectators the opportunity to see not only the finest talent of today, but the stars of tomorrow.”

The COSAFA Senior Challenge was in limbo following South Africa’s Mpumalanga Provincial Government’s singing a different tune with regards to sponsoring the annual event. The Mpumalanga Provincial Government, which sponsored the event last year, had made a U-turn on their earlier commitment to bankroll the tournament for the next three years, citing the global financial meltdown as the main reason.

It seems Zimbabwe hasn’t been affected by the global financial meltdown. COSAFA confirmed that the 2009 COSAFA Senior Challenge will be held in Zimbabwe from October 17 to November 1, 2009. The confirmation follows funding and commitment of the government of Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority to support ZIFA’s bid to host the regional championship from which they wish to showcase their facilities ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals.

Mozambique based Chiukepo (Super-sub) Msowoya (Malawi’s top goal scorer) will take part in the competition because the Mozambique league is on break. The rest (foreign based players) will not take part in the competition because the competition is not on FIFA Calendar. Barely 4 days after Malawi and Ivory Coast drew 1-1, The Flames, mostly local players (Note: 3 local players featured in the game: Davie Banda, Maupo Msowoya and Victor Nyirenda), including Hellings Mwakasungula (didn’t play against Ivory Coast because he had accumulated 2 yellow cards), are back into camp in preparation for the Quarter final game against Mozambique on October 25, 2009. FULL SCHEDULE OF MATCHES

Zambia together with South Africa, Mozambique, Angola, Namibia and Malawi enter the competition at the quarter-final stage on account of their superior FIFA rankings.

Most people are of the view that the tournament needs to be included on FIFA calendar so teams can benefit by having all their foreign based players. They argue that even though the tournament is regarded as a developmental competition, it also helps the teams to prepare for major tournaments such as the World Cup and Africa Nations Cup. The tournament is played over a longer period so I don’t think FIFA would include it on its calendar. It needs to take place when most leagues are off-season.

Malawi’s participation in COSAFA Challenge will have little effect on the game against Burkina Faso on November 14, 2009 because almost 95% of the Flames first 11 will not take part in the COSAFA Senior Challenge Cup. I am sure Malawi will maintain the same team (Team Cohesion?) that made Drogba and Ivory Coast sweat for the point. Anyway, the COSAFA Challenge may be used as a platform “to launch the local players onto the global football scene and expose them to international competition which should help put them in good stead for assignments such as the Africa Cup, FIFA World Cup and even personal player advancement.”

Some people are suggesting that Malawi should camp in Europe in preparation for the crucial game against Burkina Faso on November 14. It seems they are forgetting that foreign based players are released 4-5 days before the international game (on FIFA Calendar). Most Malawi foreign based players arrived in Malawi 3 days before the Ivory Coast match. In my opinion, camping in Europe would be logistically impossible. The foreign based players would spend most of the 4-5 days in transit. Then factor in jet lag.

On November 14 Ivory Coast will host Guinea and Burkina Faso will host Malawi. Malawi and Guinea are fighting for the final spot (Africa Cup of Nations). Malawi have 4 points while Guinea have 3 points but Guinea have a better goal aggregate than Malawi.

Here are the scenarios that will send Malawi through:

Malawi win, Guinea lose
Malawi lose, Guinea lose
Malawi draw, Guinea lose
Malawi draw, Guinea draw

Here are the scenarios that will send Guinea through

Guinea win, Malawi lose
Guinea win, Malawi draw
Guinea draw, Malawi lose

Give your opinion on the November 14 games(trends)