……Burundi 0-0 Malawi
By Edwin Mbewe
LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-The Malawi National Football team secured their first point in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifying campaign following their Thursday evening 0-0 draw against Burundi away in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
The match was first for the newly appointed interim technical panel led by Zimbabwean tactician, Kalisto Pasuwa alongside Peter Mponda and Pritchard Mwansa as his deputies.
The gaffer maintained Mighty Mukuru Wanderers FC goal-minder Williams Thole as Frank Gabadinho Mhango, Yankho Singo, Alick Lungu and Richard Mbulu started for the Flame’s dead rubber match with UD Songo’ John Banda leading the team in the field of play.
Malawi came close to score in the dying minutes of the first half through Gabadinho Mhango’s free kick that missed the upright with a whisker. The game produced few scoring chances for both sides.
Burundi struggled to penetrate Malawi’s defensive zones as Flames defended in numbers to guard and protect their area until halftime.
The home team had a beautiful chance in the 50th minute when a dangerous corner kick caught Flame’s defence napping in tje line of duty.
However, Sabiyumva’s weak shot was dealt with by William Thole.
Pasuwa seeing time fast ticking, made his first change in the 60th minute as Lloyd Aaron, Lloyd Njaliwa and Zanaco forward, Chawanangwa Kaonga replaced Richard Mbulu, Gaddie Chirwa and Yankho Singo.
The referee flashed red card to MacDonald Lameck as he thought the right back was already on the yellow card but after protests and consultation, the card was reversed in the 65th minute.
The incident forced Pasuwa to substitute Lameck for Gomezgani Chirwa while Wisdom Mpinganjira came on for Lanjesi Nkhoma.
The battle for the points continued and in the 78th minute, Burundi could have scored after playing two back-to-back corner-kicks which created scoring opportunity as the ball landed onto Fredic’e head who produced a powerful effort that forced Thole to make critical double save.
In the 85th minute, Malawi had a chance to break the deadlock as Kaonga beat his opponent on the right flank before sending a beautiful cross which Burundi goal-minder Nahimana parried in the way of Wisdom Mpinganjira who laid it to Mhango on the edge of the penalty box.
However, Mhango’s shot was cleared off the line by defender Christopher to keep the scoreline at level 0-0.
As the match came closer to the end, Malawi created another chance but Mhango’s bicycle kick went wide and soon the match ended.
The result means Malawi have a point from five games while Burundi has four points from the same number of games played in group L.
After the match head coach Kalisto Pasuwa described the result as fair saying he did not have time to train with good number of players he selected for the duty.
“Good result for us considering the fact that,most of the guys didn’t train with them. What we wanted was to be solid whenever we loss the ball and capitalize on attack but they were also solid in defense though we created chance we failed to convert into goals.
“But good result for a start. In the first half we struggled also in set pieces as our opponents were tall but managed to contain them”, says Pasuwa.
Malawi and Burundi have failed to qualify to the 2025 Morocco Africa Cup of Nations finals as Burkina Faso and Senegal have both made it from group L.
The Flames return home from Ivory Coast on Friday, a head of Tuesday’s clash against Burkina Faso at the Bingu National Stadium.