Football Association of Malawi (Fam) is optimistic that both Malawi Men’s and Women’s national football teams are on the right track despite recent struggles.
Fam president Fleetwood Haiya was reacting to the two teams’ poor showing in recent matches this year.
Haiya said Flames coach Kalisto Pasuwa has completed his rebuilding exercise and the team is now ready for any competition.
“We are happy now that we are not going to build again. We are not going to continue building because we have got a team. We just have to spice up. I can assure you that Flames are ready for any competition,” Haiya said.
The Flames were a pale shadow of themselves during the recent Hollywoodbets Cosafa Cup in Bloemfontein, South Africa, where they failed to win a match or score a goal in three games.
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Malawi lost 1-0 to Lesotho and Angola but played out a goalless draw against Namibia.
Haiya said despite the Flames’ poor showing, there were several positives.
“We did not take foreign-based players and some regulars. As Fam, we accepted the proposal from the coaches to use the Cosafa Cup to expose other players. Other countries such as Angola, Botswana and Namibia featured all foreign-based players,” Haiya said.
This year, the Flames have played nine matches in all competitions.
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Out of nine matches, Malawi have won three matches in the African Nations Championship play-offs against Comoros (2-0, 2-0) and South Africa (1-0), but lost 2-0 to South Africa in the second leg away in Pretoria.
They suffered back-to-back defeats to Namibia (1-0 and 2-0) in the 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers.
In a related development, Haiya said while the Scorchers have lost five matches in six international friendlies, there is hope in the team.
“For the first time, the Scorchers have been active. While others might be concerned with the losses, we have seen a lot of positives,” he said.
The Scorchers lost 3-1 and 4-2 to Ghana and Morocco respectively last week. They also lost 3-0 and 2-1 to South Africa’s Banyana Banyana.
The Scorchers lost 2-0 to Zambia’s Copper Queens before beating them 3-2 in Lusaka, Zambia in February this year.
Sports analyst Parry Chinyama said the Flames performed below expectations this year, whereas the Scorchers registered some improvement.
“The Scorchers have improved. They managed to score two goals against Africa’s number three team. Morocco is a better performance,” he said.
The Scorchers are preparing for the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) qualifiers against Angola in October this year.
