Pasuwa explains why Malawi couldn’t beat Lesotho again

Malawi coach Kalisto Pasuwa has explained the reason behind his team’s continued failure to beat Lesotho for over 15 years, with the latest meeting between the Southern African opponents ending goalless on Saturday.

The Zimbabwean suggested that his Flames have a psychological problem that affects their performance against Lesotho who they met at Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein, South Africa.

“It is a mental part of it. If you saw even now in the last minute, they [Lesotho] could have scored. I saw in most cases, they [Lesotho] believed in themselves to say we can win it. To our boys also that mentality, they came here knowing we have never beaten Lesotho and that we can concede. In the last minute, we could have conceded. So, it is working also on the mental side of the boys,” the coach explained.

When did Malawi last beat Lesotho?

Malawi has never defeated Lesotho in the 15 years across all competitions with the Flames last victory over their opponents being a 1-0 result registered in a friendly in 2009 followed by four draws and three defeats.

The former FCB Nyasa Big Bullets described the meeting with Leslie Notsi-led side as tactically challenging.

“A very tactical game where we had the chances that we could have buried in the first minutes of the game, and then later, as the game progressed, they could let us play in the areas where we were not dangerous. And in most cases, they wanted to catch us and hit us from behind in transition, but we managed to resist it,” Pasuwa said.

The former Zimbabwe handler also suggested that jet lag might have played a small part in his players’ average performance having arrived in South Africa on the same day of the game.

“We arrived early in the morning today [Saturday] and to some of the boys, the legs were not okay, but they did well. Well done also to the opposition, which gave us a good game,” he said.

The Flames take on Likuena again on Tuesday at the same Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein, South Africa.

Pasuwa wants to use the friendlies to test new players and combinations drawing lessons from a disjointed outing in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

The new players in need of gelling with the rest of squad include newly-called Yann Kouakou, Mayele Malango, Babatunde Adepoju, Chifundo Mphasi, recalled Uchizi Vunga and Blessings Mpokera.

The Zimbabwean, who is yet to translate his success at FCB Big Bullets in the national team, added that he was also targeting good results to help improve on the FIFA/Coca Cola World Rankings.