….Malawi 0-1 Lesotho
By Edwin Mbewe
BLOEMFONTEIN-(MaraviPost)-The Malawi National Football team, the Flames have once again failed to burn Crocodiles (Likuena) of Lesotho at Toyota Stadium in their 2025 Cosafa cup group B opener.
Flames who started on a high note in the first half, paid for their sin for not capitalizing on few chances they created as they conceded late in the dying minutes of the second half through Makara Ntaitsane, to lose the match 1-0.
The defeat now put Kalisto Pasuwa’ side under pressure as they have to win all their remaining group B matches against Namibia and Angola to be played on 8th and 10th June respectively if they are to qualify to the semifinals of the championship as well as to keep their dreams of winning the cup for the first time alive.
Despite dominating in the first half, the Flames failed to get a goal through strikers Wisdom Mpinganjira, Zeliat Nkhoma and Chikumbutso Salima.
However, Flames failed to dictate the proceedings in the middle of the park giving room for the Crocodiles of Lesotho to penetrate into our danger zone so easily.
In the second half, Malawi kept defending firmly until Lesotho got the late goal through Makara Ntaitsane, following a mix-up amongst the defenders and also loss of concentration.
After the match, Assistant Coach Peter Mponda said the game was evenly balanced with too many chances from both teams.
“It terms of possession i feel we were good though we were slow going forward, we didn’t have numbers to convert our chances into goals and unfortunately lost it at very end because of loss of concentration. As i said we dominated the possession but we didn’t get the ball in an impactful area hence failed to punish Lesotho.
“We didn’t have large numbers in the attacking third and Lesotho allowed us to play in those areas. The moment we went into impact areas they came in numbers to block us, we hope to come back stronger in our next match”, added Mponda.
Heading into Thursday’s clash, Lesotho were favorites to win the match in as far as the head-to-head is concerned. Before the match the two sides had met six times which Lesotho won 2 games, drew 4.
The Crocodile’s win mean they have now defeated Flames in two matches in a row as they beat Malawi in 2023 semifinals.
Meanwhile, Angola and Namibia played 1-1 draw in another group B match played at Toyota Stadium. Ten-man Angola were the first to score through a penalty kick in the 90th minute taken by Depu before Namibia pulled level through Ivan Kamberipa in the 96th minute.
Lesotho lead the group with 3 points followed by Namibia and Angola who are tied on 1 point while Malawi anchor the table will zero point.