International Football
RACE TO CAMEROON 2020 CHAN BEGINS IN MALAWI
Visiting Malawi have arrived in Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, ahead of African Nations Championships (CHAN) South Zone first round first leg tie set for Mavuso Sports Centre on Saturday.
The two nations senior men national teams square off in Manzini in their 21st meeting – their first meeting in the CHAN date with the hosts soul searching for their first ever home win since the 5th of June 2016 famous 1-0 win over Guinea in the 2017 Total Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
On that Sunday afternoon, then prolific scorer Sabelo Ndzinisa grabbed a 48th minute that temporarily drowned the mighty West Africans into football mediocrity and ascended “tiny” Eswatini to giant-killers status.
And ever since, Sihlangu lost four successive home ties to Angola (2018 Total CHAN qualifier) and to the trio of Tunisia, Egypt and Niger in the 2019 Total Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and has changed coaches from Harries Bulunga to Hendrick Pieter de Jongh to Anthony Mdluli to the current, Kostadin Papic.
On the other hand, the Flames last tasted victory outside their borders in a friendly international played on the fourth of September 2017 – a 1-0 triumph over Togo and ever since lost three of their away 2019 Total Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers to Morocco, Cameroon and Comoros.
Since then the coaching lead has changed hands from Gerald Phiri (snr) to Ronny Van Geneugden and now Meck Mwase who will be returning to his second home, Eswatini where he almost stole away the MTN Premier League of Eswatini with giants Mbabane Highlanders.
In their 20 previous meetings, Malawi have won 11 with Eswatini bagging three wins with the two nations sharing six draws and both coaches will be searching for a winning cushion ahead of the second leg set for next month.
Panic said his lads were going for a win.
“The team has a potential to qualify for such tournaments including CHAN, AFCON, even the World Cup and win even the COSAFA if we are to professionalize our game local and this is mindset we are trying to work. It is with this in mind that we will be going for a win on Saturday.
“We have never gone past this stage in the CHAN qualifiers and it’s high time we advance to the next stage. If we attain the winning mindset it is possible to win over Malawi and meet Angola in the next round of the qualifiers,”said Papic.
Mwase early in the week said he was happy to be in Eswatini.
“I thank God that I’m coming back to Eswatini as interim coach for Malawi. I’m sure it will be tough but exciting too. Three to four years have passed and I am not sure how far the game have improved in Eswatini.
“It’s every teams wish to play to win but compared to the previous Under 20 meeting it will be two different teams altogether. We have to respect our host they are playing at home. But we are also ready except for just those football related injuries which are not serious,” said Mwase.
The last meeting between the two sides was on the 4th of September 2016 in Malawi when a Gerald Phiri first half strike gave the home side a 1-0 win over Eswatini with the last meeting on Eswatini soil ending in a 2-2 draw on the 6th of September 2015.
International Football
Former Brazil coach Tite taking break to take care of mental, physical health
Former Brazil coach Tite said he is taking an indefinite career break in order to take care of his mental and physical health.
The 63-year-old, who led Brazil to the 2019 Copa America title, was hospitalised due to a heart issue last August. He was sacked by Flamengo the following month and had most recently been linked with the Corinthians job.
“I realised that there are times when you have to understand that, as a human being, I can be vulnerable and admitting that will certainly make me stronger,” Tite said in a statement posted on his son Matheus Bachi’s Instagram on Tuesday.
“I’m passionate about what I do and I’ll continue to be so, but after talking to my family and observing the signals my body was giving off, I decided that the best thing to do now is to take a break from my career to look after myself for as long as it takes.
“As has become public, there was a conversation in progress with Corinthians, but it will have to be paralysed by a difficult but necessary decision.”
Tite, who stepped down as Brazil coach after their quarter-final exit from the 2022 World Cup, has previously coached a string of Brazilian sides including Gremio, Atletico Mineiro and Palmeiras.
-Reuters
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Brazil have sacked head coach Dorival Jr, the country’s football confederation (CBF) said on Friday after the five-time world champions were thrashed 4-1 away to fierce rivals Argentina in a humiliating qualifying loss in Buenos Aires.
The 62-year-old was appointed in January 2024 after the team spent a year under two caretaker coaches as the Brazilian FA were unable to lure Italian Carlo Ancelotti from Real Madrid.
“The Brazilian Football Confederation informs that coach Dorival Jr is no longer in charge of the Brazilian national team,” the confederation said in a statement.
“The management thanks (Dorival) and wishes him success in continuing his career … the CBF will work to find his replacement,” it added.
Dorival was handed the job after his success with Flamengo in 2022 where he won the Copa Libertadores and Brazilian Cup, a trophy he lifted again the next year with Sao Paulo.
However, he never seemed to get to grips with the national team job and failed to earn the trust of Brazil’s demanding fans after winning only seven of his 16 games in charge.
Sources told Reuters the CBF was not confident in Dorival’s work, considering there had been little to no progress since a lacklustre Copa America campaign when Brazil were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Uruguay last year.
Still, the CBF was willing to wait and see until the 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Ecuador and Paraguay in June to reassess the situation following the end of the European season and the Club World Cup in the U.S. in June and July.
But after Brazil slumped to their heaviest-ever loss in a qualifier when they were thrashed by Argentina this week, CBF president Ednaldo Rodrigues decided to pull the trigger.
IDEAL CANDIDATE
Sources told Reuters Ancelotti was still the ideal candidate but he is under contract with Real until July 2026 and there is no indication he would leave the European and Spanish champions.
Brazilian media have reported that Al Hilal’s Portuguese coach Jorge Jesus is the favourite to replace Dorival.
Brazil have been in unfamiliar territory for over two years since crashing out of the 2022 World Cup against Croatia on penalties in the quarter-finals, a heartbreaking elimination that led to the exit of long-time manager Tite.
Their humbling defeat in Buenos Aires was the latest of a series of negative records Brazil have set under caretakers Ramon Menezes and Fernando Diniz and with Dorival in charge. They had never conceded four goals in a World Cup qualifier.
Brazil are in the midst of their worst-ever World Cup qualifying campaign. They are fourth in the South American standings with 21 points, a point above sixth-placed Colombia who currently occupy the final direct qualifying berth.
Never have Brazil lost so many games, conceded so many goals or set so many negative records in the qualifying competition. They have lost five of their 14 games and conceded 16 goals.
Brazil’s 1-0 defeat by Argentina in the Maracana late in 2023 was their first-ever qualifying loss on home soil.
They also lost to Colombia for the first time, saw the end of their unbeaten run against Uruguay stretching back over two decades and were defeated by Morocco and Senegal, having never previously lost to an African nation.
-Reuters
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International Football
England’s German manager Tuchel will not sing the English anthem in his first game
England manager Thomas Tuchel said he would have to “earn the right” to sing the national anthem, God Save the King, after announcing his 26-man squad on Friday ahead of the team’s World Cup qualifiers.
Tuchel, who was appointed as Gareth Southgate’s successor in October and named his first squad to face Albania and Latvia this month, said he would not sing the anthem in his first games in charge.
“It means a lot to me, I can assure you, but I can feel that because it is so meaningful and it is so emotional and it is so powerful, the national anthem, that I have to earn my right to sing it,” the 51-year-old German told a news conference.
Former caretaker manager Lee Carsley was criticised last year for not singing the anthem during his tenure.
However, Tuchel added that while he is proud to be in charge of the team and knows the words to the anthem, he plans to earn the right with results.
“Maybe I have to dive more into the culture and earn my right from you, from the players, from the supporters, so everyone feels like ‘he should sing it now, he’s one of our own, he’s the English manager, he should sing it’,” he said.
-Reuters
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