'Angola Denied Us Training Facilities' Accuses Malawi

MALAWI claim they were denied a training ground for two days leading up to Thursday's African Nations Cup finals defeat to hosts Angola in Luanda. Coach Kinnah Phiri said a protest had been handed to the tournament organisers, the Confederation of African Football. "We find it very strange that in this competition a team cannot be found a ground to train," he told Reuters after the 2-0 loss in the Group A match. "We are very disappointed because we feel that either the organising committee or the Angolan federation were working towards pushing Angola into the quarter-fi�nals. "Three times we went to a ground and found oth�ers using the pitch. We asked them to leave but they refused. We didn't have a session over the last two days before the game." Malawi, who beat Algeria 3-0 in their opening match, are second in the standings and are likely to qualify for the quarter-finals if they beat Mali in their last game in Cabinda on Monday. Striker Flavio scored a third goal of the tournament to put Angola ahead just after halftime and Manucho added a second soon after as the hosts banished the image of their dramatic capitulation on Sunday when they conceded four late goals to draw 4-4 with Mali.