Ahead of an African Qualifiers game against the Pharaohs of Egypt, the Malawi national Soccer team coach Mario Marian Marinica has asked the country’s football governing body Football Association of Malawi (FAM) for two training camps, for two weeks here in Malawi and for another two weeks in Saudi Arabia.
In the capital Cairo, Egypt will host the Flames on March 20th, 2023 before meeting again 8 days later for a return leg at Bingu National Stadium in the capital Lilongwe.
According to Marinica, he wants the first training camp to be held next month [January] prior to the proposed trip to Saudi Arabia in February for their final camping, before facing the Pharaohs.
“We are considering at the moment to do fourteen days camping in Malawi and maybe ten to fourteen days in Saudi Arabia and play some matches with some clubs there.
“It’s not 100% agreed but is differently agreed that we will go to Saudi Arabia and it is agreed that from there we are looking to go straight to Egypt and come back,” said Marinica.
The group which has Malawi, Ethiopia, Egypt and Guinea is wide open with all teams having an equal chance of qualifying. The second round of games in March will perhaps show as to who will progress and who will be left out. Malawi has qualified to the continent’s showpiece now three times in its footballing history.