In the face of great need, a champion will rise to occasion. Surely, no matter what, true warriors never give up.
The Malawi National Football Team, the Flames plunge into the battle against Angola’s Palancas Negras with faint hope of qualifying for the 2025 Hollywoodbets Cosafa Cup.
The two teams face each other in Group B final fixture at Toyota Stadium this afternoon.
Heading into the battle, the Flames are winless at this year’s Cosafa Cup following a 1-0 loss to Lesotho and a goal-less stalemate against Namibia.
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Realistically, Flames’ semi-finals chances evaporated after a goal-less draw against Namibia.
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And a win for Malawi over Angola this afternoon, will not be enough for them to reach the last four as a tie breaker is not in Malawi’s favour.
This is due to the competition’s rules and regulations.
“Should two or more teams finishing on the same number of points in the pool phase, they will be separated by the result of their head-to-head meetings in the first instance,” the 2025 Cosafa Cup regulations reads.
Currently, the Flames are bottom and trail Angola by three points.
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Lesotho, who beat Malawi 1-0 on Thursday can eliminate the Flames out of the competition should they get a draw against Namibia in their last match this afternoon.
Namibia can also qualify for the semi-finals if they beat Lesotho and pray that Angola lose to Malawi. If Lesotho beat Namibia, they will have six points automatically eliminating the Flames.
The harsh reality is that the Flames are technically out of the 2025 Cosafa Cup.
But pride will be at stake for the Flames this afternoon.
For Angola, they desperately need all the three points to keep their title defence dream alive.
The two teams have met four times since 2013. Malawi beat Angola 3-0 in 2016 courtesy of Frank Gabadinho Mhango’s hat-trick.
Prior to that, Angola defeated Malawi 3-2 in 2013.
But the last two matches ended in goal-less stalemates in 2017 and 2018.
Flames assistant coach Peter Mponda will likely maintain the first 11 that started against Namibia. George Chikooka, MacDonald Lameck, Blessings Mpokera, Emmanuel Nyirenda, Yankho Singo, Blessings Singini, Wisdom Mpinganjira, Promise Kamwendo and Chikumbutso Salima are likely to be in the starting line-up this afternoon.
A total of 14 teams are taking part in the competition.
Only group winners will advance to the semi-finals.
Malawi last reached the Cosafa Cup semi-finals in 2023 and finished fourth when they lost to South Africa in the third place play-off.
Since the inception of the Cosafa Cup in 1997, the Flames have never won it but finished as runners-up twice in 2002 and 2003.
