Malawi coach Mario Marinica has slammed the conditions the Flames have experienced at the African Cup of Nations, saying smaller teams are treated like second-class citizens.
Gabadinho Mhango and Co. were eliminated by Morocco on Tuesday evening, ending their brilliant run at this year’s tournament.
Mhango made history after becoming the Malawian with most goals at AFCON finals, but his coach has pointed towards favouritism of the bigger teams after Gambia’s coach made similar allegations.
Marinica pointed out facts like his team being forced to do their own laundry as well as issues over food.
“You wouldn’t see Sadio Mane washing his own underpants and hanging them on a bush to dry,” Marinica told ESPN.
“Gambia have the same problem, and there are different standards here, teams are being treated differently.
“We talk about inclusion, we want to have minnows, small teams doing fantastic things, but when it comes to the latter stages, people don’t fancy us playing against Cape Verde and not Senegal playing Morocco [for example].
“Certain questions have to be asked; why are these things happening to us, why only to the smaller teams, why only to Comoros, Gambia, us?”
“I’ve asked my fellow colleagues and team leaders to lodge a formal complaint,” he added. “I complained to the managers of the estate, and at the current [hotel] we struggled for three days before things were sorted out.
“I couldn’t have milk for coffee, they said the milk was finished until tomorrow. We are treated like second-class citizens, but if you’re a hotel manager and you see this happening, you take charge, you can’t allow it in this day and age, at this level of competition.
“We stayed in the same facilities before and I was shocked, we didn’t have enough food, there were complaints about the food, but we stayed together, worked hard, stayed strong and will come through with flying colours.”
In addition, to the off-field issues, Marinica also pointed towards bias refereeing at the tournament in favour of the stronger teams.
“Honesty on the pitch is important,” he added.
“The referee in the last match played a huge part in our draw with Senegal, where we had a clear cut penalty, the player was pushed, pulled and the referee gave nothing.
“Later, the ref gave offside when he should have played advantage, it’s as though we are second-rate citizens.”
