Malawi National Football Team will be back to business when they face Seychelles at the ongoing 2023 Hollywoodbets Cosafa Cup at King Zwelithini Stadium this evening.
Straight from their famous 1-0 victory over Zambia in the Group B opener on Thursday night, the Flames will be hoping to claim a second win of the tournament.
All that the Flames need is to win against Seychelles to increase their chances of progressing to the semi-finals for the first time in 20 years.
The last time Malawi reached the semi-finals was in 2003 when they beat Zambia 4-2 on post-match penalties after a 1-1 stalemate in regulation time.
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Following the win over Zambia, the Flames are second with three points, just behind leaders Comoros on goal difference, who will face Zambia in an early kick off at the same venue.
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On paper, the Flames are favourites in today’s match following their impressive performance against Zambia.
On the part of Seychelles, they started the tournament with a 3-0 loss to Comoros. Interestingly, Malawi and Seychelles have only met once in the history of the Cosafa Cup.
The Flames beat Seychelles 3-0 in the group stage of the 2019 edition. Despite their performance against Comoros, Seychelles nicknamed the Pirates are not pushovers and the Flames must exercise caution.
Interim coach Patrick Mabedi has told his troops to double their efforts against Seychelles.
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’’We need to treat every game as a cup final. Football is unpredictable and we just need to go there and do our best to win the match. We should not undermine them because they are a very good team,’’ Mabedi said.
Mabedi might be forced to ring changes to the team that started against Zambia as striker Christopher Kumwembe is doubtful due to injury.
He has several options upfront namely Lanjesi Nkhoma, Gaddie Chirwa, Chifundo Mphasi and Chawanangwa Kaonga.
Following his impressive performance against Zambia, goalkeeper Brighton Munthali is likely to keep his place while the back four of captain Stanley Sanudi, Dennis Chembezi, Nixon Mwase and Alick Lungu will likely be maintained.
Youngsters Lloyd Aaron and Robert Saizi who had a grand game are expected to start again.
On the part of Seychelles, they have never gone past the group stages since they started participating in the tournament since 2005.
But Coach Vivian Both believes their dream is not over yet. The 2023 Cosafa Cup is being played under a new format which will see group winners advancing to the semi-finals.
The overall best loser will also qualify for the last four.
