Category: Sports

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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Peter Banda By Duncan Mlanjira Ahead of the do-or-die last Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Group B against Senegal this evening from 17:00hrs (CAT), Flames midfielder John Banda gives Malawians confidence that despite the west African being touted as favorites to carry the day, they are set to make a major upset. “Senegal look good on paper, but they have to know our game against them will be the biggest game of our lives,” he said at a pre-match…

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*They need to beat Senegal and pray Guinea to beat Zimbabwe in last group matches By Duncan Mlanjira Gabadinho Mhango showed how the Flames missed his services in the 0-1 loss against Guinea by playing the game of his life in which he scored two brilliant goals to beat Zimbabwe 2-0 and steer the team closer to their first-ever knock out stages. The Flames came from a goal down to claim a deserved win to pick 3 points and…

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Mwase and Gerald Jnr. at the press conference By Duncan Mlanjira Flames coach Meck Mwase made a surprise choice of recalled Gerald Phiri Jnr. to accompany him for their African Cup of Nations (AFCON) pre-match press conference ahead of their second Group B match against Zimbabwe on Friday. Mwase has done this in the absence of head of technical panel Mario Marian Marinica, who was not cleared on Wednesday together with the others that tested CoVID-19 positive last Sunday….

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Reason to celebrate By Duncan Mlanjira The Flames have received a clean bill of health as all 28 players have tested negative of CoVID-19 and are available for selection for their second match of the Africa Cup of Nations encounter against Zimbabwe on Friday. The Flames players and officials underwent a CoVID-19 PCR test on Wednesday afternoon 48 hours before the team’s second group B match as per Confederation of African Football (CAF) 2021 AFCON pre-match protocols. A media…

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FAM GS Alfred Gunda By Duncan Mlanjira Tongues have been wagging that Football Association of Malawi (FAM) sent a bloated delegation to the tournament but general secretary Alfred Gunda has clarified that it was important to send the extra members for capacity building as the association is preparing to host a CAF Under-17 qualifers in December 2022. These extra member comprise 2 vice-presidents, an executive committee member and five heads of member associations of which five are from FAM’s…

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By Duncan Mlanjira The Flames took their opening Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Group A opener against Guinea with verve and vitality; caught their experienced opponents off guard with their offensive play; forced the best out of the Guinean goalkeeper but unfortunately lost 0-1. Even pre-match, halftime and full time SuperSport analysts, former internationals — South African Andre Arendse and Ghanaian Asamoah Gyan — doffed their hearts off the Flames and acknowledged that the Guineans used their experienced to…

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