* Beaten 1-0 by defending champions Angola this afternoon despite being assured they were going to give fans the required result
* It come to pass of online betting platform, Scores24 giving 1.53 odds that Malawi would not score against Angola
By Duncan Mlanjira
From three group matches, Malawi Flames didn’t manage to score a goal — losing 1-0 in the first group game against Lesotho, drawing 0-0 against Namibia in the second and needing a win against Angola in the last group match they have lost 0-1 this evening.
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And it has come to pass of online betting platform, Scores24, which gave 1.53 odds that Malawi would not score against the defending champions, Angola, which took cognizance that the Flames have failed to score in 7 of their last 8 matches while Angola have kept a clean sheet in 5 of their last 6 away matches.
“Malawi’s defense is solid, but their lack of scoring could be a disadvantage against an Angola side in excellent form,” said Scores24 ahead of the match after the Parancas Negras’ beat Lesotho 4-0 in their second Group B match on Sunday after drawing 1-1 with Namibia in the first game last Thursday.
Flames assistant coach Peter Mponda strongly believed that the players were going to give fans the required result, despite their failure to win their first two matches, as he had been impressed with the team’s progress, noting improvements in performance between the Lesotho and Namibia games.
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Fans haven’t taken the performance lightly with one saying: “I’m sorry to say this but [Football Association of Malawi (FAM) president] Fleetwood Haiya got it all wrong by imposing Nyasa Big Bullets on the Flames by hiring the club’s former coach Kalisto Pasuwa and letting him choose Peter Mponda to be his [first] assistant.
“There are too many of them [from Bullets]. Check the entire technical and see how many they are — Pasuwa, Mponda, James Chilapondwa and Ngore, the analyst — that erodes all goodwill.
“The players too — some of them don’t have game time at Nyasa Big Bullets but are in the national team, it’s strange,” observed the fan, while others responded on FAM Facebook post of the result with Jackson Chizumila deriding that FAM is “transforming Bullets” — alluding to FAM’s ‘Transforming the Game’ slogan.
Manjoma AD commented on the FAM Facebook post that “Pasuwa must go, Peter [Mponda] must go — in short double P must go” while Elias Nkunika suggested that maybe “tipume kaye mpira (we should take a break in international football) for at least two years [to rebuild]”.
Nolubabalo Mbophane, who seemed not to be a Malawi had this to say: “At least you didn’t get hammered by Angola”, having taken note that the Parancas Negras has beaten Lesotho 4-0, the team that beat Malawi 1-0 in the opening group match.
“May be organise a nice little tournament with eSwatini and Seychelles,” he said while another non-Malawian Quad Iba Swift said: “You guys are learning nothing — if you think the team is improving, you dont know football.”
Lason Kanshulu took solace that it’s only the Malawi national women’s team, the Scorchers, that “are the best footballers we have — the rest are story tellers.”
Bonnie Kondowe had this to say on the FAM Facebook post: “We changed FAM president, we changed the Flames coach, squad changed — results no change (losing every game). What’s the real problem? Football could have been the only thing that could put a smile on our faces, but hmmm — this is my first time seeing Flames that never burn.”
On a sober note, Henafri analysed the team “showed great calibre [but] only lacked fire at the front. Let’s all agree that [Chikumbutso] Salima is a good player but he needs to improve on his final third — otherwise he wasted many chances.
Chikumbutso Salima being challenged by Namibia’s Kennedy Eib and Moses Shidolo on Sunday
“He needs to go to gym in order for him to be physically fit, then work on his final touch. Wisdom Mpinganjira has no mate here in Malawi, he is such a jewel Malawi has been looking for a very long time.
“Blessings Singini is a complete midfield maestro who is so calm with the ball. The way he distributes the ball to his fellow players shows how great he would be if he maintains this form.
“Promise Kamwendo has lots of work to do as a national team striker — rather he also needs to work on his finishing ability. Gaddie Chirwa is a player who has very good pace — he is physically fit and he always put the ball at the right place but today he made some silly mistakes that prompted the coach to substitute him.
“Yankho Singo needs to improve on his approach, some fouls he committed were preventable,” he said.
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In the 0-0 game against Namibia, coach Kalisto Pasuwa named a changed starting XI but finished the entire game that ended 0-0 without making any substitutions — after replacing striker Zeliati Nkhoma for Promise Kamwendo while Blessings Singini, Emmanuel Nyirenda and Gaddie Chirwa were given a nod in place of Wongani Lungu, Maxwell Paipi and Timothy Silwimba.
Against Angola, he also had Zeliati on the bench only to be involved when the damage had been done — which Buay Buba observed and commented on the FAM post, saying bringing in a striker after the game is dead and buried should stop (Koma zomalowesa striker game itavuta musiye”).
He believes Zeliati Nkhoma should have been introduced in good time because he is physically strong to challenge defenders and is able to continue to aggressively approach the goalkeeper on defenders back passes to the glove man.
