Malawi Coach Mario Marinica Praises Ethiopia

Malawi national team head coach Mario Marinica has praised his Sunday 5 June opponents Ethiopia despite leading his side to a 2-1 victory in matchday one of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

Gabadinho Mhango netted a brace to give the Flames an advantage going into match day two on Thursday when they face Guinea away in Conakry.

Marinica, who has led his charges to the summit of Group D, hailed the visiting side’s resilience and display throughout the match.

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“It was a very tough game. Ethiopia is a fantastic team. They play very good football. They have fantastic players,” [/perfectpullquote]

said Marinica.

Ethiopia largely dominated the match but they failed to penetrate Flames defence that fiercely protected their goal area resulting in the visitors registering two shots on target.

The Walia Ibex goal came in the 66th minute from the spot kick that was converted by Abubeker Nassir after a foul in the box by sit in captain John Banda.

Wubetu Abate, the Ethiopia coach, felt their good performance was betrayed by the two penalties from needless tackles from his defenders.

“But congratulations to Malawi. They deserved it,” Abate said,

Ethiopia will play their next match against Egypt at the Bingu National Stadium in Malawi on Thursday as  Bahir Dar Stadium was not approved by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to host matches in the AFCON 2023 qualifiers.