Ahead of the start of the 33rd edition of the African Cup of Nations in Cameroon which kicks off on January 9, the Malawi Football Association have described their national team as underdogs going into the tournament, but have their eyes firmly fixed on winning their group opener against Guinea on January 10.
Speaking exclusively to ghanasportspage.com, Competitions and Communications Director of the Malawi FA, Gomezgani Zakazaka has stated that their opponent Guinea is tough one and that his side are going into the tournament as underdogs.
The Flames have been drawn into group B alongside Senegal, Zimbabwe and Guinea. Gomezgani has underscored the importance of winning a first group game at tournaments, and have indicated how winning their first game against Guinea could determine their faith at the tournament.
“It’s a very important match to us”, Gomezgani told ghanasportspage.com. “Every opening game in a competition like this one is very important because, it normally determines your destination in as far as how you are going to finish in that particular group. It’s very important that we should get a result in this match, a win is a must for us”, he admitted.
Comparing both Guinea and Malawi in terms of players, Gomezgani insists that the former has got players who play at the highest level of football unlike Malawi. To him, Malawi has got a mountain to climb against Guinea but they will leave no stone unturned.
“It’s not going to be easy; we are playing Guinea who have gone through the ranks, they have got exposed players, they have got more experienced players, most of them are playing in the top European leagues whereas most of our players are playing in the local league as well as the South African League. We’ve got one player who plays in Europe, he plays for FC Sheriff in Moldova. So that comes into the question that we are going into this competition as underdogs, we are going into that opening match against Guinea as underdogs and we believe that with that tag we can play our game but the most important thing is to make sure that we get a win”, Gomezgani explained.
Gomezgani stressed that starting the tournament on a high note will boost the morale of the players into the rest of the competition. “If we start on a high note it will boost the morale in the coming matches against Zimbabwe on the 14th (January). So we are looking forward to the opening match and our strategy is to win the opening match rather than a defeat which will make the boys be under pressure for the rest of the matches”, he maintained.
