Head coach Pasuwa’s technical team, players can afford to aim for upsets in FIFA World Cup 2026™ qualifiers

* The Zimbabwean was just given a target of qualifying for the AfCON 2027 as top priority target

* While winning, at least, three of the six of the remaining qualifiers of the FIFA World Cup 2026™ as a bonus

* But anything can happen in Group H led by Tunisia at 10 points, Namibia 2nd with 8, Liberia 3rd with 7 and Malawi on 4th with 6

Analysis by Duncan Mlanjira

Having won three of the four assignments of the FIFA World Cup 2026™ qualifiers — to lead Group H with 10 points — Tunisia are being touted as hot favourites to qualify to the finals after securing an early qualification to the Africa Cup of Nations (AfCON) Morocco 2025.

But I would say the race is quite open as following closer with just two points are Namibia, ahead of the game at Bingu National Stadium tomorrow against, Malawi Flames who are 4th with 6 points — one point behind 3rd-placed Liberia.

Liberia, whom Malawi beat 1-0 in the first leg away, are hosting Tunisia before again hosting São Tomé e Príncipe, who are at the bottom without a point.

Liberia can make an upset at home against the supposedly giants, the Carthage Eagles, who will host Malawi on Monday, which the Flames can win since head coach, Kalisto Pasuwa is leaving no stone unturned to make Malawi one of the best teams on the continent.

I have the faith in him that he can upset both Namibia and Tunisia tomorrow and Monday, which if it happens, will earn the Flames 12 points — and if the high standards would be set, Pasuwa’s charges can then aim to win the remaining assignments against Namibia in September for the second leg before hosting Liberia, São Tomé and Equatorial Guinea between October and November 2025.

As a recap, the 23rd edition of the FIFA World Cup 2026™ finals — to be hosted jointly by the United States of America, Mexico and Canada — will have 48 participating countries instead of the conventional 32 giving an advantage for Africa to field more teams (10).

The top team from each of the nine groups after Match Day 10 in October 2025 shall earn an automatic qualification — while the four best second-placed and top ranked teams from all nine groups will engage in a continental playoff, determining a single victor who will then proceed to a second and final playoff.

This final stage will comprise six teams from various confederations, with the top two emerging as qualified participants, ultimately making up the 48 competing teams.

So the race here is open and Pasuwa has nothing to lose since his target, set to him by Football Association of Malawi (FAM) when he signed a permanent contract last month, is to qualify for the AfCON 2027 as top priority — while winning, at least, three of the six of the remaining qualifiers of the FIFA World Cup 2026™.

When he took over in interim capacity from fired coach, Patrick Mabedi, who lost all of his four AfCON Morocco 2025 qualifiers, he targeted the remaining ceremonial matches as confidence-building — and he did just that by drawing 0-0 with Burundi away and beating hot Burkina Faso here at home.

And for the domestic league-based Flames, he led them to back-to-back 2-0 wins against Comoros that qualified them to the final qualifying round of the African Nations Championship (CHAN) against South Africa next month.

South Africa beat Tunisia to qualify for this final round and after their result, Pasuwa was was unperturbed with facing Bafana Bafana, emphasising that for the Flames to be the best, they have to compete against the best.

This is the opportunity indeed for the Flames to be at their best by making some upsets in the remaining six qualifying matches of the FIFA World Cup 2026™ qualifiers starting tomorrow followed by Monday.

Pessimists would say ‘this is wishful thinking’, but we at Maravi Express believe in Pasuwa and while others suggest on social media that the acclaimed Zimbabwe Warriors coach might be having some luck in the four matches he has been in control of, let’s remind each other that he mentored Nyasa Big Bullets to unprecedented five back-to-back TNM Super League titles that ended last season — (2018, 2019, 2020-21, 2022 and 2023).

In between, the People’s Team won many cup titles that included a treble of them in 2023 — the FDH Bank Cup, Castel Challenge Cup and the Airtel Top 8 as well as the seasonal opener, the NBS Bank FAM Charity Shield; that earned the Zimbabwean the Non-Citizen of the Year accolade in the Malawi Sport Award 2023.

Another reminder is that, from the 8 points that Namibia have, three were earned from FIFA after world football governing body docked off points from Equatorial Guinea after the Nzalang Nacional featured their captain Emilio Nsue in two wins against Namibia and Liberia.

They lost both matches at 0-3 each after FIFA discovered that Equatorial Guinea had not correctly completed the change of nationality process for Nsue when he first declared for the Nzalang Nacional, having previously played for Spain at junior level. incorrectly completed change of nationality process.

Nsue was slapped with six months suspension in May last year, which has ended and he has been included in the squad for their back-to-back FIFA World Cup 2026™ qualifiers against São Tomé  and Namibia.

CAFonline reported yesterday that FIFA has since validated the change of footballing nationality for the veteran striker Nsue — who was the top scorer at the AfCON Côte d’Ivoire 2023 finals.

So, while Namibia have a full house — having 14 as foreign-based players, of which 11 ply their trade in South African league led by Mamelodi Sundowns’ striker Peter Shalulile and veteran left winger Deon Hotto of Orlando Pirates — they can be beaten at Bingu tomorrow.

And also much as Tunisia have been described as the standout team in Group, H, the race for qualification remains in contention between Namibia, Liberia and Malawi — with Pasuwa without any pressure since his goal is to build a stronger squad to aim for AfCON 2027 qualification while, as a bonus, to win at least three of the remaining FIFA World Cup 2026™ qualifiers.

Remember, there is the chance that only the top team from each of the nine groups after Match Day 10 in October 2025 shall earn an automatic qualification — but four best second-placed teams as according to their hierarchy on FIFA Rankings from all nine groups will engage in a continental playoff, determining a single victor who will then proceed to a second and final playoff.