For the past two decades, Malawi National Football Team, the Flames have found themselves in a pool of mediocrity in as far as the Cosafa Cup is concerned.
Some soccer analysts have warned that the struggle will last forever, if the gaps in domestic football are not addressed.
The analysts’ comments come just a day after the Flames lost 1-0 to Lesotho in their opening Group B match at the 2025 Hollywoodbets Cosafa Cup in Mangaung, South Africa.
Following the defeat, the Flames face the prospect of being eliminated from the group stage.
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There is likelihood that Flames’ wait for Cosafa Cup glory will continue after the 23rd attempt.
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While the Flames still search for their first ever Cosafa Cup title, neighbours Zambia hunt for the record eighth title.
Sports analyst George Chiusiwa said the approach to player development leaves much to be desired.
“This defect is compounded by poor, biased and questionable player selection for the national team as merit is not necessarily the principal consideration. It is also a challenge for coaches to have a good pool of players selected from poor quality leagues at all tiers where quality is already a telling and critical problem,” Chiusiwa said.
Furthermore, Chiusiwa also questioned how national football team coaches are recruited.
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“Over the years, the coaches [both local and some expatriates] manning the Flames have been hired by Fam [Football Association of Malawi] based on appeasement, camaraderie or charity and this effectively entails that such gaffers do not have the technical independence to make decisions pertaining to their work.
“The Fam technical sub-committee has not even helped matters in pushing for reforms for the coaching job at the national team. We have had coaches who are timid, biased and protective of their jobs that they cannot make progressive but unpopular decisions to register victories for the team with good technical and tactical approaches,” he said.
Former Flames striker Essau Kanyenda, who was among the group of players that reached the Cosafa Cup final twice in 2002 and 2003, echoed Chiusiwa’s sentiments.
“In Malawi when the coach is interim, he does well but once they have a full time job, they struggle. I think the coaches keep on changing the squads. It is surprising that some players were dropped as the coach claimed they were too good for Cosafa, a tournament which we have never won,” Kanyenda said.
The defeat to Lesotho was Flames fourth loss in all competitions under the tutelage of Kalisto Pasuwa. Malawi suffered back-to-back defeats in the 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers against Namibia (1-0) and Tunisia (2-0).
Last month, Malawi lost 2-0 to South Africa in African Nations Championship (Chan), having beaten them 1-0 at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe.
Another sports analyst Parry Chinyama said there were several shortcomings in domestic football. “We have the right crop of players but they lack technical expertise. Our technical support to the players is far below what can improve their performance,” he said.
“On the technical staff, those that we have entrusted with assembling the team do not have the capacity to match our counterparts in the region. They fail to turn around the game or change the players’ attitude.”
Since the inception of the Cosafa Cup in 1997, Malawi have finished as runners-up twice in 2002 and 2003. The Flames have participated in all the previous editions except last year.
In 2023, they finished fourth after losing 5-3 to South Africa in Durban.
After the defeat to Lesotho, Flames assistant coach Peter Mponda admitted that Malawi’s chances of reaching the last four were slim.
“We have put ourselves in an awkward situation but we have to move ourselves out of the trench which we are in now,” Mponda said.
Malawi will face Namibia at Dr Petrus Molemela Stadium tomorrow before meeting defending champions Angola on Tuesday. The Flames last won a trophy in 1988 when they won the East and Central African Senior Challenge Cup.
