Author: Duncan Mlanjira

By Duncan Mlanjira Soon after the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals currently in the first knockout stages in Cameroun, the qualifying matches for the 34th edition Cote d’Ivoire 2023 will kick off in March — first with a preliminary round involving 12 least ranked teams. Ranked at 129th in the world and 33 in Africa as of December 2021, Malawi were amongst teams that were seeded from the preliminary round draw held by Confederation of African Football…

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By Duncan Mlanjira After the conclusion of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) group qualifying, Confederation of African Football (CAF) have selected the Best XI, but none of the Flames have been considered — not even as a substitute. The squad is dominated by west Africans as follows: Goalkeeper: Mohamed Elshennawy (Egypt) Right Back: Achraf Hakimi (Morocco) Central Back (R): William Troost-Ekong (Nigeria) Central Back (L): Ahmed Hegazy (Egypt) Left Back: Ghislain Konan (Cote d’Ivoire) Defensive Midfielder: Yves…

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By Duncan Mlanjira Malawi national football team is seeded from the preliminary round of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) due to their better standings on the FIFA rankings as of last December. The draw for the 34th edition, to be hosted by Côte d’Ivoire, will be conducted on Saturday at 15h30 GMT) and will be live on CAF digital platforms. Level 1 of the draw, which is for the highest of the 12 least ranked teams have…

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High-flying Côte d’Ivoire  By Duncan Mlanjira If the Flames breeze past North African giants Morocco on Sunday in their first-ever knockout stages of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), they will date the winners of match 7 of the Round of 16 match between Côte d’Ivoire and Egypt. After the last group qualifying matches on Thursday, the Round of 16 draw is: Sunday January 23 1. Burkina Faso v Gabon (Limbe Stadium, Limbe) 2. Nigeria v Tunisia (Roumde Adjia…

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By Duncan Mlanjira The 0-1 loss to Guinea followed by the impressive 2-1 win over Zimbabwe and the hard-fought 0-0 draw against Africa’s top ranked team Senegal earned Malawi as best third-placed team to qualify for their first-ever knockout stages. This follows results in Group D on Wednesday night in which Nigeria beat Guinea-Bissau 2-0 while Egypt beat Sudan 1-0. According to fixtures posted on skysports.com, the Flames date Morocco on Tuesday, January 25. The winners between Morocco and…

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Silver Strikers goalie Charles Thomu voted Man of Match By Duncan Mlanjira Having been beaten 0-1 by Guinea in the opener and beating Zimbabwe 2-1 before salvaging a 0-0 against Senegal on Tuesday, head-to-head rules Guinea as Group B runners-up — leaving Malawi to be considered as best third-placed team to qualify for their first-ever Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) quarterfinal qualification. The Flames put up a gallant fight against a star-studded Senegal — the number one ranked team…

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