Wa Ganyu
Gabadinho Mhango was a man, scoring a 43—yards goal to seal Malawi’s victory with Richard Mbulu scoring the other over Namibia.
Though the match was played in Francistown, Botswana, the home of Namibia, it was Malawi who had numbers as a lot of fans came to give the Flames morale.
With energy, Malawi delivered well, winning possession, creating scoring chances and more offensive in front.
Just five minutes later, the Flames of Malawi were up already with Mbulu scoring after the keeper delayed in clearing the ball—Mbulu won it and tapped the ball home.
Chances were created from both ends but there was nothing much to write as the half ended with Malawi narrowly leading.
The second half started and at 53 minutes Malawi were two up with Mhango’s record breaker goal scoring from 44 yards out.
From the centre circle he noted that the keeper had moved from his area, Mhango could not think twice but to send the ball home to double their lead. On January 26 2022, Mhango did the same against Morocco during the Africa Cup of Nations last 16 when he scored a stunning 40—yards goal in a 2-1 defeat.
In today’s match, Namibia scored a consolation goal at 86 minutes through a David Ndeunyema header.
Malawi coach Kalisto Pasuwa was happy with the win. “We wanted a win away, I am happy we have done that. I am happy with how we played. We created a number of chances but failed to take them,” said Pasuwa who also said that he was happy with Mayele Malango who made his debut for the Flames.
Lineup:
Malawi: William Thole, Charles Petro, MacDonald Lameck, Denis Chembezi, Wisdom Mpinganjira, Lloyd Njaliwa, Richard Mbulu, Gabadinho Mhango (C), Alick Lungu, Yankho Singo, Robert Saize.
Group H Standings after 7 games each
- Tunisia 19 points
- Namibia 12 points
- Liberia 10 points
- Equatorial Guinea 10 points
- Malawi 9 points
- Sao Tome 0 points
