Malawi National Football Team Coach Kalisto Pasuwa has rued missed chances during an international friendly match against Lesotho on Saturday.
Pasuwa, reacting to the Flames’ goal-less stalemate with Lesotho at Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein, South Africa, said his charges could have won the match.
“We had chances to bury the game in the first minute of the game. But, later on, as the game progressed, they let us [to] play in areas which were not dangerous.
“In most cases, they wanted to catch us and hit us behind defence but we managed to resist,” Pasuwa said.
The Zimbabwean also said fatigue took its toll on some of his boys.
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“[There was fatigue], considering that we travelled. Remember, we arrived early in the morning today [Saturday] and some of the legs of the boys were not ok but they did well,” he said.
Despite the stalemate with Lesotho, Pasuwa said the players showed great character compared to the previous match against Sao Tome and Principe.
“The boys were prepared to play. They came here knowing that we have struggled to beat Lesotho. The attitude was different or even the way they were playing.
“But against Sao Tome, it was a game one would say we have already won and to some they even went streaming, which means we underrated them,” he said.
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The stalemate against Lesotho’s Likuena meant the Flames have failed to win in three consecutive matches, having drawn with Liberia 2-2 before registering a 1-0 loss to Sao Tome and Principe in the 2026 Fifa World Cup Qualifiers.
In addition, the Flames’ winless streak against Lesotho was extended to eight matches in all competitions.
Sports analyst Parry Chinyama said the draw exposed several shortcomings.
“We failed to score yet we had three strikers. Imagine, we didn’t do any substitution. The draw tells us that we need something for our technical team,” he said.
Malawi and Lesotho will face each other in another match at the same venue Tuesday.
