Malawi National Football Team, the Flames Monday suffered their second defeat in the 2026 Fifa World Cup Qualifiers following a 1-0 loss to Equatorial Guinea at Estadio de Malabo, in Equatorial Guinea.
In a game monitored on Football Association of Malawi (Fam) Media, the Flames illustrated that old habits die hard after conceding late.
The Flames were resilient for 80 minutes coupled with good goalkeeping from George Chikooka but conceded late deep into the game.
Ivan Savaldor’s strike was enough to hand the hosts vital three points and revived their World Cup qualification dream alive after they were docked six points for featuring in eligible player Emilio Nsue.
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The loss means the Flames failed to leapfrog second placed Namibia in the group as they are fourth with six points from four matches, four points behind leaders Tunisia and two points behind the Brave Warriors.
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Flames coach Patrick Mabedi made two changes to the starting lineup that beat Sao Tome and Principe 3-1 at Bingu National Stadium on Thursday.
Patrick Mwaungulu and US-based striker Henri Kumwenda started ahead of Robert Saizi and Chifundo Mphasi respectively.
The hosts were on top of their game and started the game strongly as they forced the goalkeeper to make numerous saves.
Savaldor nearly broke the deadlock in the seventh minute but Chikooka was equal to the task. MBA Obiang also came close to scoring but the Silver Strikers goalkeeper came to the rescue.
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The two teams went for recess with the deadlock yet to be broken. After recess, Mabedi brought Wisdom Mpinganjira and Mphasi for Mwaungulu and Kumwenda respectively.
Thereafter, the Flames also made a double substitution when John Banda and MacDonald Lameck were introduced for Lanjesi Nkhoma and Chawanangwa Kaonga.
The Flames sat too deep and invited pressure from the hosts who took the game to the visitors and their hard work paid off when Bassey’s well taken freekick found unmarked Salvador in the box.
He fired a hard and low shot, beating a forest of defenders and Chikooka. That was a hammer blow.
After the goal, the Flames had a chance to pull level after good work from Mphasi on the right but his delivery was well dealt with by the hosts.
In the later stages of the match, Lawrence Chaziya replaced injured Dennis Chembezi.
In a post-match reaction, Mabedi said his troops lost concentration towards the end of the match.
“We lost concentration a bit and we got punished. We faced a good team and they dominated possession. We had a plan to win the game but unfortunately, we lost,” Mabedi said.
The Flames started the qualifiers with a 1-0 win over Liberia but lost by the similar margin to Tunisia at home.
