Malawi national team coach Young Chimodzi has reinstated Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) based midfielder Joseph Kamwendo as captain for the Flames.
Kamwendo was stripped off the armband which was later given Moses Chavula with defender Lucky Malata as vice captain in September last year when Tom Saintfiet was coach of the team.
But Chimodzi gave back the armband to the midfielder on Sunday when Malawi lost 2-0 to Mali.
He is set to captain the team today as they play Ethiopia in their second group match of the 2015 Afcon Qualifiers. Kickoff time for the game is 14:30 hrs at Kamuzu Stadium.
Meanwhile, the Flames have said they want to win all their home matches in the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations campaign to cement their chance of qualifying for Morocco.
“We must win all home matches starting with the one against Ethiopia on Wednesday, or else we’ll not have realistic chances of competing for a qualification slot.
“So, the target is let’s making full use of home ground advantage and the match is a must-win for us and we’ll have to go for Ethiopia’s throats,” said Chimodzi.
Chimodzi, however, admitted that Ethiopia’s Antelopes, who lost 2-1 to Algeria, are equally a tough side having made “tremendous strides in recent years therefore we’ll have to exercise a lot of caution.
We need to attack with a purpose and not be wasteful in front of goal as was the case in Mali. We need to drum into the players that it’s not going to be a stroll in the park and we’ll have to sweat blood to get a result because the fact that we are playing at home is no guarantee that we will win,” he said.
Captain Kamwendo said they have recovered following the loss in Mali and are looking forward to this afternoon’s showdown with a degree of confidence.
He said winning home games will be instrumental in their quest to qualify Morocco.
“We are prepared to make up for the loss in Mali. I would urge Malawians to fill the stadium and rally behind their team while at the same time creating an intimidating atmosphere for the visitors,” he said
