The Flames are expected to regroup on Monday in preparation for the 2024 TotalEnergies African Nations Championship (Chan) last qualifying round against South Africa’s Bafana Bafana.
Malawi will host Bafana Bafana on May 3 at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe while the return leg is scheduled for May 11 in South Africa.
The winner will qualify for the finals of the competition to be jointly hosted by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in August.
Football Association of Malawi (FAM) competitions and communications director Gomezgani Zakazaka said in an interview yesterday all is set for the Flames preparations.
He said: “The Kallisto Pasuwa-led technical panel will release the squad this weekend and the players will report to camp soon after their weekend fixtures.”
Malawi and six other countries namely, Algeria, Comoros, Egypt, Gabon, The Gambia and South Africa were re-engaged after initially excusing themselves from the tournament; hence, the play-offs, after other teams already qualified for the finals.
The Flames qualified for the last qualifying round with a with a 4-0 aggregate win over Comoros following 2-0 victories in first and second legs at Bingu National Stadium in February.
South Africa, on the other hand, qualified with a 4-2 aggregate win over Egypt following a 1-1 first-leg draw at home and a 3-1 away victory.
Gambia also advanced after defeating Gabon in post-match penalties following goalless draws and will face Algeria who were seeded.
Meanwhile, Bafana coach Molefi Ntseki is also expected to name his squad this week.
South Africa Football Association website www.safa.net quoted himas saying he will not make changes to the squad that beat Egypt.
“Everyone is looking forward to the training sessions and to the game. We are looking forward to the next phase of the qualifiers,” Ntseki is quoted as having said.
Malawi has never qualified for the Chan tournament which was introduced in 2007 to promote local players.
In the last edition, Malawi failed to make it to the tournament’s finals after being booted out by Mozambique in the second-round.
The Flames were handed a lifeline to the second round following their first-round opponents Zimbabwe’s suspension from international football by Fifa.
In the second-round, Malawi were held 1-1 by Mozambique at Bingu National Stadium in July and the return leg in Maputo ended goalless for the Mambas to sail through on away goal rule.
