Malawi National Football Team Coach Patrick Mabedi has attributed his costs’ poor displaying within the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers to insufficient time for preparations.

The Flames are nonetheless with no win within the qualifiers after 4 matches and are backside of the desk in Group L with no level.

They began the qualifiers with a 3-2 loss to Burundi earlier than enduring a 3-1 defeat by the hands of Burkina Faso.

Malawi then succumbed to a 4-0 hammering by Senegal earlier than going down 1-0 to the same team at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe on Tuesday.

But Mabedi stated his gamers have been unable to final your complete 90 minutes as a result of restricted time in camp.

Mabedi stated he solely had two days to organize the crew for the match after flying again house from Dakar.

“The length of time we were given for camping is one of the factors among the many challenges my team faced. If you check teams such as Mozambique, Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Lesotho, every time they have a game, say in a month, they meet for at least two weeks.

“And again if you look at Senegal players, they were physically fit unlike our players. The simple reason is that most of our players do not go to the gym at their respective clubs. So this is a problem,” he stated.

Football Association of Malawi (Fam) Technical Sub-committee Chairperson Christopher Kuyera stated there have been many challenges that wanted a holistic method.

“While it is obvious that everybody in the football family is complaining about the team’s poor showing in this campaign, we should also consider that most of the players did not go through proper football structures.

“Most of them go to the national team straight from their Super League clubs. We have, in recent years, put a lot of emphasis on the end product without looking at key factors like sponsorship, infrastructure, funding and youth development. But it is time we started hunting for a lasting solution together. We all need to sober up and see how best we should do this,” Kuyera stated.

Meanwhile, former Flames ahead Esau Kanyenda has steered a gathering involving all stakeholders as the one instant answer.

“During our time, there was no shortcut. Players could not be pushed to the national team without merit. Some of us were spotted while playing for smaller teams and we went on to play professional football abroad.

“If you analyse this matter critically, you will see that some of the players are being incorporated into the national team just because of performing well in just a single match. Things do not work that way. Every player should go through the steps before finding their way to the national team,” Kanyenda stated.

He suggested authorities and Fam to work hand-in-hand to safe extra funding and funding into the sport if the Flames have been to enhance their efficiency.

The Flames’ subsequent project within the qualifiers is an away match in opposition to Burundi on November 11 earlier than internet hosting Burkina Faso 4 days later at house.