Old habits die hard and for the umpteenth time, the Flames conceded late against South Africa yesterday in Pretoria to bow out of the delayed 2024 African Nations Championship (Chan) 2-1 on aggregate.
The Flames took to Versfield Loftus Stadium with a spring in their step, needing just a draw to sail through following a 1-0 victory in the first leg at Bingu National Stadium last week, but as has been the case on numerous occasions, there was to be a sting in the tail.
In a match monitored on MBC Television, Victor Letsoalo drew first blood for Bafana Bafana in the 12th minute. He pounced inside the box and hit the back of the net to hand South Africa the lead.
The hosts led 1-0 at halftime and the aggregate score stood at1-1.
Captain Neo Maema doubled Bafana’s lead in the 87th minute after being set up by Letsoalo for the hosts to punch a ticket to the continental showpiece to be jointly hosted by Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda in August.
For the Flames, the hunt for their maiden appearance at the tournament for locally-based players, goes on.
It was the second successive time and third overall for Malawi to miss the train at the last hurdle.
It was once again the familiar jazz of being so near and yet so far.
They trudged off the pitch with their heads down in disappointment as they saw what appeared to be rosy world crumble in the end.
With coach Kallisto Pasuwa following the proceedings from a hospital bed a few kilometres away where he was being treated for chest pains, his assistant Peter ‘Mjojo’ Mponda took charge of the team.
And for the better part of the match, he was seen barking instructions from the touchline, urging his troops to give out something extra. But it just wasn’t to be.
In a post-match interview, Mponda said the result was not a true reflection of the game and felt they gave away easy goals.
“I am hugely disappointed with the manner we have lost the game, I don’t believe South Africa did anything exceptional to deserve a win.
“I believe that we played very well, we tried to contain them. In terms of possession, they were a little bit ahead of us, they created a number of chances.
“In the second half, we were on top of them though we were not keeping the balls where we would have hurt them.
“We gave away easy goals, [otherwise], it could have gone into penalties.”
