Malawi National Football Team yesterday held Ethiopia to a 1-1 draw in an international friendly match at Dire Dawa International Stadium with head coach Kallisto Pasuwa stating there is still a long way to go.
Nigerian-born naturalised forward Babatunde Adepoju scored his first goal for Malawi in the 18th minute, giving the Flames an early lead in a match monitored on Dire Dawa Television.
the Flames: Babatunde. | Courtesy of FAM
However, the hosts responded before half-time, equalising in the 41st minute through Binyam Belay.
The result is a slight improvement for Malawi, who had lost 1-0 to the same opponents in the first of the two friendly matches played on Saturday.
In a post-match interview, Pasuwa said Malawi could have easily won the match.
He said: “I thought it was a game that we were supposed to win. But unfortunately, maybe it’s complacency on the part of our boys. At this level of football, you don’t have to do such mistakes.
“You can carry the day with one goal. A good example is the first game that we played. They scored and they defended their goal. Same thing happened to us.
“We were leading. Then again, we concede at the end of the day. So, I think we still need to do more with our boys to encourage them in terms of how football is played at this level.”
In yesterday’s match, Pasuwa maintained eight players who featured in the previous match in the starting line-up.
Goalkeeper William Thole, defenders Lameck McDonald, captain Petro Charles and Dennis Chembezi, along with Emmanuel Nyirenda, midfielders Lloyd Njaliwa and Chifundo Mphasi and forward Mwisho Mhango all retained their places.
But the Zimbabwean tactician made three changes, dropping Aaron Lloyd, Christopher Kumwembe and Francisco Madinga to the bench.
They were replaced by Blessings Singini, Babatunde and Gaddie Chirwa.
Babatunde made an immediate impact, opening the scoring in the 18th minute after reacting fastest to a rebound when the Ethiopian goalkeeper failed to deal with a long-range effort from Mphasi.
Ethiopia, however, responded strongly and restored parity just before the break through Belay.
in the second-half, both sides were unable to score the winner.
