Defining moment

The Flames have been christened favourites at the 2023 Hollywoodbets Cosafa Cup in Durban, South Africa following their two straight wins and clean sheets.

However, all that effort will not count if they do not come to the party in their last Group B tie against Comoros this afternoon at Chatsworth Stadium.

The Flames have done all they needed to do by beating defending champions Zambia and Seychelles to top the group with six points.

But the battle is far from over as they need at least a draw in today’s encounter against the islanders.

So tricky is the fixture that a Flames loss will throw the group wide open.

A win for Comoros will mean a tie with the Flames and move top of the table on head-to-head rule.

With Zambia having collected their first points after edging Comoros 0-1 0n Sunday evening, the defending champions, who face Seychelles, can also take their tally to six points and tie with the Flames and Comoros.

This situation will force the group to be decided on goal difference, which might be to Malawi’s disadvantage.

Stories of so near yet so far are not strange for the Flames.

In 2019, Malawi gave up an advantage and ended up losing to Zambia in the quarter-finals on penalties after a 2-2 stalemate in regulation time.

With three wins from the last four meetings between Comoros and the Flames, Malawi boasts a superior record in the history of this fixture. Comoros’ only victory came in November 2018, when they edged out the Flames 2-1 in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier, but this afternoon they come up against an improved Comoros side that has quality.

Flames interim coach Patrick Mabedi said though they just need a draw, it would be foolhardy to take that as an advantage.

He said: “All the teams we are facing here are tough. There is no easy team. Comoros is playing very good football. We saw how Zambia struggled to beat them.

“They are coming from a loss and such teams are always tough to beat. We need to be very careful.

“We need to work even harder than in the other two matches if we are to beat them and qualify for the semis.”

Mabedi said the Flames’ target is to finish as group winners and not as best runners-up.

But all this will depend on his players playing according to instructions.

After the match against Seychelles, Mabedi observed that his players were underrating their opponents.

But captain Stanley Sanudi said all the players are aware of what is at stake.

He said: “We are ready to die for our country. There is no room for complacency.”

Mabedi is expected to once again maintain the same team behind Zambia and Seychelles victories which has now started to gel, with a few changes in the course of the game.