World Cup (Q): Malawi coach Pasuwa mentions one ball that worries him

Malawi national team coach Kalisto Pasuwa has cited one thing his side needs to improve going into Thursday’s 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Equatorial Guinea in Lilongwe.

The Flames, as Malawi are affectionately called, bounced back from a string of defeats in Group H to beat Namibia 2-1 and share the spoils at 2-2 with Liberia last months. The four points collected from the two games revived a flicker of hope for the Flames’ World Cup bid via play-offs.

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The next challenge is that of taking on Equatorial Guinea at Bingu National Stadium with a win putting the Malawians on the prospect of competing for the play-offs.

Ahead of the game, Pasuwa observed his charges’ manner of conceding in both games especially failure to deal with lateral balls.

“So far, so good. They are doing very well. However, in most of the games, we are conceding one type of a ball that is laterally. Football it is at another level where you make one mistake, you are punished. We have been preaching that each and every game we will play, we will do our best. These are games one can be considered in rankings,” the coach explained.

Who is in and out of Flames’ squad?

He also gave an update on players’ availability for the game, saying skipper Gabadinho Mhango has been ruled out through suspension while Romania-based defender Charles Petro was expected to jet in on Wednesday.

“By yesterday, we had most of the boys we had called up except Charles Petro who will arrive this afternoon. You can see the way they [players] are responding. These are players who are eager to do well for the national team. We are trying to work on the areas we noted in the previous game. More games are coming and we need to rectify those areas,” Pasuwa added.

Malawi sit in third place with 10 points at par with Equatorial Guinea, one point and four points behind Liberia, Namibia respectively. Already qualified Tunisia lead the table with 22 points while Sao Tome Principe occupy the bottom seat without a point in eight games.