Flames coach closely watch stars in South Africa

Friday, February 17th, 2012 | Post By

CAPE TOWN (SuperSport)-Malawi coach Kinnah Phiri has warned his South African based players he will be monitoring their form in the first two rounds of Absa Premiership matches after the recent mid-season break before deciding on whether to call them up for the African Nations Cup qualifier against Chad at the end of the month.

Phiri watched action on Wednesday when the league restarted and will again be flicking through his television channels this weekend before making up his mind.

Striker Chiukepo Msowoya, loaned out to Platinum Stars by Orlando Pirates; midfielder Robert Ngambi, who is also at Stars; the Santos duo of Peter Mponda and Tawonga Chimodzi; Moses Chavula of AmaZulu and Davie Banda of Black Leopards are the players from the Premier Soccer League being considered.

Of the six players Chavula was the only who had a full 90 minutes of action in midweek. He competed for AmaZulu in their home defeat at the hands of Absa Premiership leaders Mamelodi Sundowns.

Chimodzi played for 51 minutes before being taken off in Santos’ defeat at Moroka Swallows while Ngambi appeared as a substitute for Stars in their 2-3 loss at Ajax Cape Town. Msowoya (on the bench), Mponda and Banda (not selected) did not play

Already out of the international is Leopards centre back Henry Nyirenda, who is out for six weeks with a leg injury.

Phiri said he would pick his final squad on Monday. Malawi travel to Ndjamena for the match on February 29, which is a first round, first leg encounter in the 2013 qualifiers.

Malawi drew at Chad in October in the 2012 qualifying, dramatically conceding a goal in stoppage time at the end of the game that cost them a place at the tournament in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.