The Malawi National Football Team, the Flames will face Lesotho in two friendly matches scheduled to take place in Bloemfontein, South Africa this month.
Football Association of Malawi (Fam) announced Friday that the first match will take place on November 15 before the second match three days later.
Fam Competitions and Communications Director Gomezgani Zakazaka said the matches would help the technical panel to prepare for the upcoming competitions.
“It is an opportunity for the Flames to play matches during the international break,” he said.
The two matches come a few weeks after the Flames lost 1-0 to Sao Tome and Principe in the 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers in Tunisia.
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The defeat to Sao Tome ended Flames’ hopes of finishing second in Group H of the qualifiers. Eventually, Malawi finished the 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers on position four with 13 points from 10 matches. The team registered three victories in the qualifiers but lost five matches and one draw. They were awarded three points after Equatorial Guinea failed to fulfil their fixture in Lilongwe last month.
Malawi will use the two friendly matches to prepare for the 2027 TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers.
Sports analyst Parry Chinyama said the two friendlies were crucial ahead of the World Cup qualifiers.
“The Flames should prepare well for the Afcon qualifiers. The fans are still disappointed so they would be looking for an improved performance next year,” he said.
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Following poor performance during the just ended World Cup qualifiers, the Flames dropped two places on Fifa rankings to 128 last month.
During the qualifiers, Malawi registered wins over Liberia (1-0), Sao Tome (3-1) and Namibia (2-1) but got three points without kicking a ball after Equatorial Guinea failed to show up for their scheduled match at Bingu National Stadium.
The Flames lost to Tunisia (1-0, 2-0), Namibia (1-0), E. Guinea (1-0) and Sao Tome 1-0.
