COSAFA Cup: Malawi’s Flames energised, coach Pasuwa returns

Mponda and Pasuwa (right): Photo Credit: Football Association of Malawi.

Malawi senior national football team coach Kalisto Pasuwa has rejoined the squad after recovering from an illness, just in time before kick-starting the 2025 COSAFA Cup campaign.

Pasuwa, who was bedridden for weeks back home in Zimbabwe, reunited with the Flames in Johannesburg on Wednesday, June 4, a day before they face Lesotho at the COSAFA Cup tournament in South Africa.

Earlier, the former Warriors handler revealed the severity of the illness that sidelined him from the Flames’ game against Bafana Bafana on Sunday, May 11, 2025.

The Zimbabwean said he spent four days in an Intensive Care Unit at a hospital in Pretoria after suffering from a pulmonary disease. He fell ill on the eve of the 2025 African Nations Championship (CHAN) final qualifying round, second leg match at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria.

In Pasuwa’s absence, his assistant Peter Mponda took charge of the Flames, who lost 2-0 to miss the CHAN qualification ticket 2-1 on aggregate. The former FCB Nyasa Big Bullets mentor had presided over a home 1-0 win over Bafana Bafana in the CHAN final qualifying round, first leg match in Lilongwe the previous weekend.

Victor Letsoalo and Neo Maema scored in each half to see Bafana Bafana through to the CHAN finals scheduled for Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in August 2025.