Saintfiet dismisses Eagles threat

Flames of Malawi Coach, Tom Saintfiet, has said he is not in a sweat about Saturday’s make-or-break 2014 World Cup qualifier against Nigeria despite going down 0-1 to Botswana on Tuesday night.
Saintfiet was responding to the question whether the loss to Botswana, who are considered lightweights on the continent, puts him under pressure with a few days before taking on the African champions in their own fortress.
He said: “I know people will say Botswana is a small team and we lost, but they are 103 on Fifa rankings (which is 15 places above Flames).
“They qualified for 2012 Africa Nations Cup and they are still in contention for 2014 World Cup qualification.
“Let’s hope this is a good omen (that we lost the game) because my colleagues tell me that they also lost to Botswana in a friendly (0-1), but they went on to win in Namibia in a World Cup qualifier.”
Saintfiet admitted that although the Flames were able to create a plethora of chances, lack of firepower remains a challenge going into Saturday’s encounter.
He said: “I think we played good football.
“We had eight good chances, but we were not composed in front of goal while Botswana had two chances and they scored one.
“It doesn’t matter which team you are playing (against), it can be the Comoros, Nigeria or Haiti, but you have to score and we are lacking firepower.”
He said other than concentrating on Tuesday’s result, the focus should switch to Saturday’s swim-or-sink tie, adding: “We had a technical meeting after the game to analyse the players and see which ones can start the game.
“We are going to checkout the final formation in due course.
“Most of the players were also taken off at some point so that they could have enough rest as we look forward to the Nigeria game.”