Malawi under pressure coach Kinnah Phiri has called for calm and patience ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Chad at Kamuzu Stadium on Saturday.

The coach has of late been under great pressure to resign following the five back-to-back draws. In the Saturday’s match, the coach would be looking forward to overturn the 3-2 deficit of the first leg encounter in Chad.

He said he had a meeting with the players where he encouraged them to put everything behind their back and concentrate on the next game against Chad.

“I had a meeting with the players where I told them to forget about the past and focus on our next game against Chad. As you might be aware that there has been a lot of talking since our game against Nigeria,” he said.

Speaking to one of the local radio stations on Tuesday, Kinnah said it was unfortunate that other people were not happy with his efforts of building a new team.

“It appears that some other people have got their own choice of players,” he said.

Kinnah said he was trying to work on finishing which had been the major problem in the past games.

In a related development, Minister of Youth Development and Sports Enock Chihana said the government cannot terminate Kinnah’s contract while he is in the process of building a new team.

He said people must also realise that the team is facing financial problems.

“As it is now government can’t terminate Kinnah’s contract because he is in the process of building a team,” Chihana said.