As feared, Flames tumble in Equatorial Guinea: Loses 0-1

The Malawi National Football Team, The Flames, on Monday went down to Equatorial Guinea 0-1 in a World Cup qualifying match played at Estadio de Malabo.

The team’s tactical approach was clear in the first half as it attacked less, spending match of the time in its own half defending.

The hosts went flat out attacking throughout the first half, thanks to Malawi’s towering goalkeeper George Chikooka who made crucial saves to keep his side in the game. He was the busier of the two goalkeepers on the field of play for the entire first half as Malawi never registered even a single shot at Equatorial Guinea’s goal.

The introduction of Macdonald Lameck, Wisdom Mpinganjira, John Banda and Chifundo Mphasi in the second half saw a changed Malawi team which now started moving forward with the ball and created a few chances through Mphasi and Mpinganjira but the team could not manage to put the ball at the back of Equatorial Guinea’s net.

The hosts punished The Flames in 81st minute. They realised that Nickson Mwase and Dennis Chembezi were solid in the central defence as they dealt with all aerial balls using advantage of their heights. Therefore, a free kick that Bassey took from the left was low and square, finding Iban Salvador whose shot was also low, making it difficult for goalkeeper George Chikooka to tame.

Although Malawi tried all it could to find an equaliser, it was not to be until the referee blew the final whistle.

Speaking after the match, Flames Coach Patrick Mabedi said it was painful to concede towards the end of the match.

“It was so painful to concede in a moment where we thought we were close to the end of the game but credit must go the players. They worked extremely hard. We slipped a bit in terms of basics by closing a player and committing a foul close to the box.

“We sit back because we knew they would come at us. We did not use counter attack opportunities because we wanted to get the ball to the feet instead of getting into space. We are still in the process of learning as a team,” he said.

The loss still leaves Malawi on position 4 in Group H with 6 points from 4 games. Tunisa lead the group with 10 points followed by Namibia and Liberia with 8 and 7 points, respectively.

Equatorial Guinea lies on position 5 with 3 points while Sao Tome and Principe anchors the table with no point.

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