Malawi Under-20 National Football Team showed great character and earned a 2-1 victory over Comoros at the ongoing TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon)/Cosafa Qualifier at ABB Stadium 2 in Maputo, Mozambique, Sunday.
The victory revived Malawi’s slim hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals for the first time since 2011.
Malawi moved to second position with three points from two games.
However, the junior Flames will rue the 5-0 loss to South Africa in their Cosafa opener last Friday.
The junior Flames will likely finish behind South Africa’s Amajita on head-to-head basis even if they beat Lesotho in the last pool match on Tuesday.
This means Malawi will be in contention for the overall best runner-up.
However, it is tricky to get the best runner-up spot as results of the team finishing in the fourth position in Group A and C will be discarded.
South Africa were leading Lesotho 3-0 as we went to press Sunday.
This put them in pole position to qualify as Group C leaders heading into the last pool match against Comoros.
After a comical display against South Africa last Friday, coach Bob Mpinganjira made two changes to the starting line-up.
Thengo and Benison Makawa were thrown into the fray whereas Precious Kwalenga and Blessings Kanowa were relegated to the bench.
But it was US-based striker Adiel Kaduya who shone during the match after netting his first brace for the junior Flames.
Kaduya, who was guilty of missing chances against South Africa, broke the deadlock in the 10th minute after he bent the ball around the defence into the far post beyond the reach of Comoros’ goalkeeper.
However, Comoros pulled level in the 26th minute through Falahidine Said.
Malawi were dealt a big blow when goalkeeper Kamwambi was sent off for a foul on a Comoros player in added time of the first half.
Following the red card, Mpinganjira made a double substitution, introducing goalkeeper Willard Sande and Madalitso Safuli for Makawa and Mwisho Mhango, respectively.
Kaduya then scored the winner in the 77th minute of the match.
But Malawi survived a Comoros scare in stoppage time after they were reduced to nine men after Thengo was sent off for delaying a restart.
Kaduya was named player of the match.
Mpinganjira felt the boys deserved victory after showing great character.
“I am very happy with the performance of the players. The player worked hard after the red card. The players adjusted to the red card and played their usual game. So, we got the goal,” Mpinganjira said.
Group winners will advance to the semi-finals and will be joined by the overall best runners-up. The champions and runners-up will qualify for the Afcon finals.
