Iran, Saudi Arabia snub Flames

Nationmalawi - Iran and Saudi Arabia have turned down offers to play strength testing games against the Malawi national football team (Flames) next month as part of their preparations for the 2006 Germany World Cup showcase.

A disappointed Flames coach Burkhard Ziese disclosed on Friday that a Europe-based Fifa agent had been asked by the two countries to arrange a series of friendly matches against some African teams ahead of the world’s biggest sporting festival.

“Being a close friend of mine, the Fifa agent approached me to see if we could be interested to play the two countries because both countries have offered to pay for all the costs and I told him that we are ready to jump at such an opportunity.
“Unfortunately the agent communicated to me last week to say both teams have rejected Malawi’s offer because of its low Fifa ranking,” said Ziese.

The Flames coach said both Iran and Saudi Arabia stated that they would rather play teams like Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Mozambique and Angola but not the Flames.

“This should be food for thought for us and we need to pull up our socks because in future even some teams from this continent will be reluctant to play friendly matches against us.

“Already I am told that a suggestion by the Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) to play a strength testing game against Malawi was shot down by the technical committee,” he said.

Ziese said the development is a major blow in his rebuilding exercise ahead of the Nations Cup preliminaries scheduled to kickoff in September.
“We need to expose out players as much as we can, we need to play as many build-up matches as we can before the preliminaries,” said Ziese.
However, the Flames mentor said he is keeping his fingers crossed that proposals for friendly games in the Caribbean and Bermuda should work out.
“And then I have also proposed to Fam that we should play at least three friendly matches against Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe before the Nations Cup qualifiers.

“I don’t want to live any stone unturned in preparations for the Nations Cup preliminaries because if we fail, I take the blame. But it is also important that I should get the support from all the stakeholders—government, Fam, players and of course, the fans.”
The Flames are ranked 105 on the Coca Cola Fifa rankings.

Ziese also disclosed that he will be travelling to South Africa mid this month to assess the performance of Flames players who ply their trade in the rainbow nation.

“I have watched them play on television and I should be honest that I wasn’t impressed. So I have decided to go there in person during the weekend of 15-17 because that’s when all the teams that have Malawian players will be in action.

“I want to have a face to face chat with them and find out if at all they have problems that could be affecting their performance. I will also discuss with their respective coaches to find out their own assessments on the players,” he explained.

The free-spoken Ziese then made it clear that inclusion of players in the team will not be based on past exploits.
“No-one and I repeat no-one will be guaranteed an automatic place in the national team. Players will have to prove their worth. So if there is a player in South Africa who thinks his place is guaranteed then he must forget it.

“I want players to show the hunger and fight for a place, I have done that before with big names like Kalusha Bwalya in Zambia and Samuel Kuffor in Ghana and I will continue with that spirit,” said Ziese.

He said the Flames rebuilding exercise is expected to start next week when about 30 locally-based players will be called for trials.