Coach Meke Mwase becomes third coach to help Malawi qualify
* As they achieve the unexpected by beating Uganda 1-0 at Kamuzu Stadium
* They collect 10 points to qualify for the AFCON finals to be held in Cameroun
* Coming 11 years after their last qualification in Angola 2010 finals
By Duncan Mlanjira
National team coach Meke Mwase and his technical team can now walk with shoulders held high after the Flames beat Uganda 1-0 at Kamuzu Stadium on Monday to qualify for their third African Cup of Nations (AFCON).
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Going into the last qualifiers, the Flames had 7 points in Group B while Uganda needed just a draw to qualify as they had 8 points, thus Malawi needed to win at all cost to sail through to the finals.
They have now joined Burkina Faso who already qualified and their final match against South Sudan on Monday was just ceremonial as the Burkinabes had already qualified as they had 9 going their last game.
The Flames will now be rewarded as ahead of the encounter, Kukoma Cooking Oil manufacturers, Capital Oil Refining Industries (Cori) Limited, have pledged K5 million to the team if they will beat Uganda and qualify.
Meanwhile, congratulations messages poured in for the Flames on social media, who first qualified for the AFCON finals in 1984 which were held in Côte d’Ivoire.
Uganda warming up just before the match
In both finals, the Flames were booted out in the group stages while in 1984, they made a huge impression when the led 2-0 against Nigeria but the game ended 2-2.
In 2010 they stirred the excitement of the opening games when they beat Algeria 3-0 but lost the consequent matches.
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