By Isaac Salima:
Malawi National Football Team has climbed three places on Fifa rankings which were released Thursday.
The climb has seen the Flames moving to position 123 from 126 with 1,140 points.
Malawi’s fortunes seem to be on the up for two consecutive months in which they have climbed six places from position 129.
The latest rise comes from the Flames’ barren stalemate with Ethiopia in a 2024 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier at Zimpeto National Stadium in Maputo, Mozambique, last month.
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The result ended the Flames’ hopes of qualifying for the Afcon finals to be staged in Ivory Coast.
Egypt and Guinea are the two teams that have advanced to the finals from Group D, with Malawi and Ethiopia missing out.
Football Association of Malawi Technical Manager James Sangala said the rise was a step in the right direction.
“Well, though still not convincing enough, I think climbing the ladder twice in three places consecutively is a good sign of progress in our game,’’ Sangala said.
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The Flames finished on fourth position at the just-ended 2023 Hollywood Bets Cosafa Cup in Durban, South Africa, having won their three group stage matches with two losses on post-match penalties.
Malawi started the regional competition with a 1-0 win over Zambia before beating Seychelles and Comoros by 2-0 score lines.
The Flames lost 3-0 to Lesotho on post-match penalties after a 1-1 stalemate before losing 5-3 to South Africa in the third-place play-off, also on post-match penalties.
However, the Cosafa Cup was not played on Fifa calendar dates, which means the results will have little impact on the Flames’ world ranking.
Former Flames defender Moses Chavula said Malawi should push for a top 100 slot.
“We have the potential to join the top 100. All we need to do is beat big teams in big competitions,’’ Chavula said.
Malawi achieved their best ranking of 53 in the world in 1992 while their worst was 138 in 2007.
Morocco are the top-ranked team in Africa, with a 14th position in the world.
Coming after the North Africans are Senegal on position 18 in the world.
Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt are 31st, 33rd and 34th in the world, respectively.
Argentina remain the top-ranked team in the world whereas France and Brazil are second and third, respectively.
