Junior flames burn Botswana as Ghana defeats the senior Frames

Junior flames burn Botswana as Ghana defeats the senior  Frames

Malawi under 17 came from behind and score two second half goals, to put the junior flames in the driving seat of the second leg of the African youth championship qualifier against Botswana.

The flames had a poor start and it was the visitors who had started on a brighter note, as they dominated much of the early proceedings. The flames struggled to get the ball of their opponents’ feet’s.

Botswana’s dominance was evidenced in the 12^th minute, when a well worked move from the zebras saw Thatayrone Ramatlapeng teeing up Kabelano Mooketsane who taped in for the opener.

After the goal, the flames woke from their slumber, and they started showing their strides into the game. The first real chance for the flames came in the 39^th minute when Wongani Kuchisanja’s goal bound shot lacked vigor to test Botswana’s goalie Keeagile Kgosipula.

In the time added on, the junior flames fluffed a golden goal scoring opportunity, when Vincent Chavi collected a beautiful pass from the midfield and he teed up Wongani, who saw his attempt blocked for a corner. From the resulting corner, Vincent Chavi failed to put his header down when he had an empty goal at his mercy.

In the second half, the flames made a double substitution by bringing in Kennie Kaunda and Gibson Kaluwa to replace Isaac Mwale and Boston Kabango. Malawi was the better side in the second half and had the lion’s share of ball possession.

The junior flames could have leveled matters on 52nd minute when Brian Phiri’s header forced Botswana goalie into a diving save.

Malawi’s dominance soon paid off in the 60th minute, a Brian Phiri’s shot from the edge of the box beat Botswana goalie Keeagile Kgosipula to put Malawi on level.

Malawi doubled their lead in the 77^th minute, a well crafted move by the junior flames saw Gibson Kaluwa connecting with Thokozani Harrison who teed up Daniel Phiri for his second and put the junior flames in front.

Botswana tried to work their way back into the game, but Malawi held on for the victory. After the game flames coach john Kaputa was happy that his boys managed to come out victorious, but he was concerned that he had to drop five players from his starting lineup in the eleventh hour.

“I am happy that we have won this game. It was a tough game because I had to go back to the drawing board when five players from my starting lineup were ruled to be ineligible in the eleventh hour.

The information which was given to us was that, the players must be those who were born starting from 1995, but when the match commissioner from CAF came said according to CAF’s regulation’s they  recommend those who were born starting from 1996, so I had to call some players who were out of camp for the game.” he said

“We had a slow start in the first half, but I am happy that the boys made a quick recovery after conceding that goal” he said

His counterpart Botswana coach, Kaizer Kobedi accepted the defeat but was confident that the zebras will win the game in Botswana.

“We have lost the game because we did not know our opponents, now that we have seen Malawi, I am sure will beat them.” he said

Meanwhile, Malawi senior team’s hopes of qualifying for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in south Africa were dealt with a huge blow, when they lost the first leg of the qualifier in Ghana by two  goals to nil.

The flames failed to fully recover from a Christian Atsu’s early goal in the first half and struggled to create real goal scoring chances.

In the second half, Malawi’s day turned into a nightmare when Anthony Annan extended the black stars lead on the 51^st minute. Coach Kinnah Phiri reacted to the goal by introducing Gabadinho Mhango and Robin Ngalande, but it was too little too late for the flames to find their way into the game.