With both sides preparing for the African Cup of Nations next week, Ghana and Malawi played out a 0-0 draw on Tuesday in Swaziland. The match almost didn't happen as Ghanaian players were requesting appearance bonuses before the game, but the matter was resolved in time to allow Milovan Rajevac's men to take the pitch in Mbabane. The Malawi side never managed the breakthrough against a stern Ghanaian defence. Malawi were thrilled to have held on to the goalless draw as they were lucky not to have gone 3-0 down because of missed chances. “We started our preparations for this tournament on December 2 and had only the local players, where we played a friendly match against a local side," Malawi coach, Kinna Phiri said. "We were joined by the professionals on December 20 for five days before we went to Egypt for a friendly and managed a 1-1 draw. "We also played Mozambique and won 1-0 and drawing 0-0 with Ghana in our last preparatory game is the icing on top of the cake,” he said. The Black Stars of Ghana are scheduled to arrive in Angola, three days before the start of the 2010 African Cup of Nations. They will jet in on Thursday from their pre-tournament training base in Nelspruit, South Africa. Malawi's first game is against Algeria on Monday. Source: Ghanasoccernet