As the Malawi Under-17 national football team gears up for the Cosafa Under-17 Championship to be held in Lilongwe, pressure is mounting on coach Deklerk Msakakuona to reach the final.

FAM technical committee chairperson Tiya Somba Banda said the coach has been given a target to qualify for the TotalEnergies CAF Under-17 African Cup of Nations.

“More especially that we are hosting the tournament,” he said.

Somba Banda, however, said despite Msakakuona failing to make it to the final, the Under-17 have done well in other areas.

He said: “We won bronze last year and this is no mean achievement for the country. Remember also that the yardstick at this level isn’t just winning trophies, but grooming players for the senior team of which we have done well in the past seven years. All these targets are there.”

Somba-Banda: All these targets are there

In the seven years, they have failed to make it to the TotalEnergies CAF Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations since only the top two in the regional competetion qualify.

In his maiden year, Msakakuona led the team to the 2016 Under-17 Cosafa Championship semi-finals after beating Madagascar (2-1) and guests Kenya (5-0) in the pool stages.

Malawi lost 3-0 to Zambia in the quarter-finals but the result was annulled after Zambia were found guilty of fielding two ineligible players.

But Malawi fluffed the opportunity of making it to the final after losing to Namibia on post-match penalties in the semi-finals following a 1-1 draw.

Msakakuona made amends by winning win bronze after beating Kenya 2-0.

Football Association of Malawi (FAM) gave Msakakuona another chance to lead the team in 2017.

But it was a similar story when Malawi won all the group games over Botswana (2-0), Zimbabwe (5-0) and Mauritius (2-0), but then lost 2-0 to Zambia in the last 4.

They again took bronze after defeating South Africa 2-1.

In 2018, Msakakuona led Malawi to beat Zimbabwe (5-0) and e-Swatini (1-0) in the pool stages, but lost 1-0 to eventual champions Angola and failed to make the semi-finals.

Malawi hosted the competition in 2019 but Msakakuona failed once again to make it to the final.

They beat South Africa 3-0 in their opener and lost to e-Swatini (2-1) and Zambia (3-2) to exit in the first round.

There were only four teams in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, yet Msakakuona once again failed to make it to the final.

They took a point in in a 2-2 draw against hosts South Africa and losses to Zambia (6-2) and Angola (7-1) in a round-robin format, before losing to Angolans again (2-1) in a third-place play-off.

Last year, Msakakuona settled for the fourth position after a draw against Botswana (1-1) and a loss to Angola (4-2) and eventually losing 3-1 to Zambia in the semi-finals but beat Eswatini 4-0 in the bronze-medal match.

In the seven years, his counterparts in South Africa, Zambia, Botswana and Mozambique managed to not only win the championship, but also qualify for Under-17 Afcon.

Malawi have appeared in all but one of the previous nine versions of the Cosafa Championship and were winners in 2001 on home soil.

This year, Malawi has been drawn with Botswana and Namibia in Group A.

The top team in each of the three pools advances to the semi-finals, along with the best-placed runner-up.

The two finalists will qualify for the TotalEnergies U-17 Africa Cup of Nations in Algeria next year.

Msakakuona said is confident that this year he can finally make it to the final.

He said: “Looking at the squad we have and the way we have prepared, I am sure that we will definitely go past the group stages and reach the final to qualify for the TotalEnergies Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations.”

Msakakuona said the squad has enough experience and depth to win the championship on home soil.

“We have seven players that were part of the squad that participated in the competition last year in Lesotho and managed to bring bronze to Malawi,” he said.

“Our team is built around these players who went to Lesotho for the same tournament. I know all teams are prepared for the tournament, and as hosts they will come hard on us. But we are ready for them.”

However, Msakakuona was cautious not to promise the moon, knowing how qualification has eluded him for seven years.

He said: “This if football. You play well, you don’t win. Sometimes you play badly but you get good results. But we will just go flat out and try to get good results.”

Malawi qualified once for African Under-17 Championships in 2009, which saw them finish fourth to qualify for the Fifa Under-17 World Cup under coach John Kaputa.

Soccer analyst Kelvin Moyo observed that Msakakuona might not be entirely to blame for the team’s failure to repeat the 2009 feat.

He said: “The system also has been a big letdown to his [Msakakuona] ambitions. The Under-17 leagues are the foundation of our football but the lads are getting wrong basics through unqualified coaches.

“These countries we are competing against, have put emphasis on grass roots football which is not the case here.

“We have good under-16 and 17 structures, but with poor technical development in terms of coaching and infrastructure.

“It is a far-fetched dream to think Malawi will qualify for under 17 or 20 tournaments if the status quo remains the same.”

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