Zebras slip to 148th in FIFA rankings
Staff Writer | Friday September 20, 2019 10:54
The national team went down one place in the latest rankings released yesterday.
New coach, Adel Amrouche was in charge for the two-legged tie, with the first leg ending in a goalless draw in Francistown, before the Flames exploded in Blantyre to burn the Zebras’ 2022 World Cup hopes.
The defeat means the Zebras will have to focus only on the Africa Cup of Nations, where they face holders, Algeria, neighbours; Zambia and Zimbabwe.
In the period under review, the Zebras played four matches since the last rankings in July. They had a similar sequence of results in the African Nations Championships, where they drew with Zambia in Francistown, before losing the return leg 1-0 in Lusaka, to crash out of the tournament.
The team drew two of its four matches while losing two. Amrouche’s next assignment sees his charges take on former Zebras coach, Peter Butler’s Liberia.
Then the Zebras will prepare for back-to-back 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Zimbabwe and Algeria in November.
There is a lengthy gap between the opening matches and the next qualifiers in October 2020.
The Zebras will have the regional COSAFA Cup to keep the team occupied, while other nations are involved in World Cup qualifiers.