Rev. Maulidi seeing off the Flames at the airport on their return for the second leg
* One day we shall sing a new song
By Duncan Mlanjira
Malawi’s Deputy Head of Mission in Egypt, Rev. Baxton Maulidi, has commended the Flames for their commitment and fighting spirit, despite suffering a disappointing defeat against the Pharaohs on Thursday night in the Africa Cup of Nations (AfCON) Pamoja 2027 qualifier.
Word of encouragement to FAM president Fleetwood Haiya
Played at Cairo International Stadium, the Pharaohs led 3-0 by halftime and concluded with a 5-0 win ahead of the back-to-back assignment to be played in Lilongwe on Tuesday, November 17.
Rev. Maulidi, who paid a courtesy visit to Flames in Cairo ahead of the match to encourage them players to represent Malawi with pride and determination, says the players “fought for the badge for the entire 90 minutes and showed great effort and patriotism on the field”.
“The boys put much effort and they were fighting for Malawi. The coaches and technical team tried their best. The FAM President offered his great support to the boys — but it wasn’t our day.
Rev. Maulidi thus called on Malawians to remain united behind the team and to view the result as a lesson rather than a reason to give up ahead of the reverse fixture.
“Let’s not lose hope for the Flames, but it’s time to reflect, learn and build,” he said. “One day we shall sing a new song. There is huge potential in the boys.”
Rev. Maulidi’s message comes as a reminder that football is about growth, resilience and belief — and that the future of the Flames remains bright if the nation continues to support its young talent.
“The Flames may have lost this battle, but the fight continues,” says Rev. Maulidi, which is a clear appeal to fans to commit themselves to rally behind the team for the return leg at Bingu National Stadium on Tuesday.
Online tickets are available through famticketsmw.com while advance physical ticket sales start tomorrow, November 14.
The advance online ticket is enjoying a discount of K2,000 off the Standard physical ticket of K10,000 and K5,000 off the VIP’s K25,000.
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The Pharaohs now lead Group B with 7 points, three ahead of runners-up Angola, who host bottom of the table South Africa today.
Angola have four points taken off from their 0-0 draw with Egypt and 3-1 win over Malawi, who have three points off South Sudan, who also lost 0-5 against Egypt.
The resounding victory was a huge relief for newly appointed coach Ali Maher which also capped a historic night for Mohamed Salah by becoming Egypt’s all-time top scorer.
Salah scored a brace to move to 70 international goals, surpassing the previous record held by former captain and coach Hossam Hassan.
It took the Pharaohs only six minutes to break the deadlock via Nasser Maher who scored his first international goal, connecting to Mohamed Hany cross from the right side.
Five minutes later, Omar Marmoush doubled Egypt’s lead after capitalising on a misplaced back-pass from the Malawian defence.
And it was 3-0 before the break when Hany turned from assister to scorer and in a fantastic style. Mahmoud Trezeguet cross was cleared by the Malawian defense, only for Hany to strike a first-time shot from 25 meters out.
The ball soared into the top-right corner of Chikooka’s goal with a spectacular strike.
Salah added Egypt’s fourth after 84 minutes, connecting to Ibrahim Adel cross with a close-range header.
Four minutes into stoppage time, the referee awarded a penalty to Hamza Abdel Karim.
Salah stepped up scoring the fifth goal to cap off the match with the record-breaking achievement, becoming the all-time leading goalscorer for the Pharaohs.—Additional Reporting by CAFonline
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