It does not get any better than this. Malawi National Football Team, the Flames, produced a vintage performance as they swept aside Burkina Faso 3-0 to finish the 2025 TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers in style at Bingu National Stadium (BNS) in Lilongwe Monday.
It was a dominant performance from the Flames, reminding fans of some good old days when the side was able to stand shoulder to shoulder with top ranked teams.
After the final whistle, the atmosphere at BNS was terrific as the fans applauded the Flames for the famous victory.
Surely, it was a deserved victory for the Flames, who got it right for the better part of the match.
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This is Flames’ first win in the botched campaign, having lost four consecutive matches.
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On top of that, this is the first win for the Flames against Burkina Faso in all competitions.
The victory means the Flames have finished the campaign with four points from six matches, above Burundi on goal-difference.
Burundu will face Senegal in Dakar tonight.
Goals from Frank Gabadinho Mhango, Richard Mbulu and Lloyd Aaron secured the victory for the Flames.
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It was a case of rejected stones turning into corner stones.
Mhango, who was discarded during the Patrick Mabedi era, opened the floodgates in the 27th minute with a good goal.
The experienced striker turned brilliantly after he received a pass from Patrick Mwaungulu, before he fired a powerful shot into the net from the edge of the box, beating goalkeeper Soufiane Farid.
After the goal, the visitors pressed hard but the Flames’ defence, led by captain of the day Charles Petro, was solid.
On the other hand, goalkeeper William Thole was on top of the game and made several saves.
However, Mhango and Mbulu had chances before the break but their efforts went wide.
After the break, Mbulu doubled Flames’ lead when he rose high and headed the ball into the net from Aaron’s cross in the 57th minute.
Four minutes later, Aaron put an icing on the cake with the third goal for the Flames but his first in national team colours.
Both teams made some changes towards the end of the match but the Flames held on for the victory.
The performance of the Flames has raised some hopes among the football fraternity.
In a post-match interview, interim coach Kalisto Pasuwa was pleased with the performance of the players.
“We dominated the match and the performance was good. We have only changed the mental aspect of the boys to believe in themselves,” Pasuwa said.
On his part, Burkina Faso Coach Brama Traore said the absence of some key players affected the performance of his side.
“It was a tough match as we missed some of the key players against Malawi,” he said.
