COSAFA Cup: Lesotho’s goal caught Malawi Flames sleeping — Mponda

Mponda: Photo Credit: Football Association of Malawi.

Malawi assistant coach Peter Mponda says Lesotho caught the Flames sleeping in the build-up to Likuena’s goal in their 1-0 win on Thursday in the COSAFA Cup.

The former international defender said this in a post-match interview with COSAFA media after losing to Lesotho in the Group B match at Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein.

“Unfortunately, we lost it at the end due to a loss of concentration. We could have defended better, but we were sleeping a little bit. Both of our defenders went for the one ball, and a deflection fell to Lesotho, which is painful. We have to go back and see how we can dig ourselves out of the trench we are in,” he said.

Mponda said the Flames did not do enough to score goals, as they dominated possession in their half.

“It was an evenly balanced game. There were not too many chances for both teams. In terms of possession, we were good, although we were slow. Going forward, we didn’t have numbers to convert our possession into chances,” the assistant coach added.

The Flames’ next game is against Namibia on June 8, while Lesotho take on Angola on the same day. Only the group winner will proceed to the last four.

Malawi have never won the regional championships, and though they reached the final in 2002 and 2003, Mponda said this was a concern.