Flames static on rankings
Malawi National Football Team, the Flames have maintained position 125 on the latest Coca Cola-Fifa rankings released yesterday.
The Flames are on position 35 in Africa and eighth in the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa) bloc.
The lack of movement is largely due to Malawi registering one loss and one win in the World Cup qualifiers match day three and four.
The Flames hammered lowly-ranked Sao Tome and Principe, on position 192 3-1 at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe on June 6, but went down 1-0 away in Malabo to highly-ranked Equatorial Guinea on position 89.
Local soccer analyst Charles Nyirenda said unless Malawi starts winning against teams above them, they will stagnate on the rankings.
“It does not help much to beat the teams below us when it comes to the Fifa rankings,” he said.
After the Equatorial Guinea match, the Flames coach Patrick Mabedi admitted that they “came up against a better opponent”.
Meanwhile, South Africa’s Bafana Bafana, who are 10th in Africa and 59th in the world, lead the Cosafa region while Zambia’s Chipolopolo, 90th in the world and 18th in Africa, are second best in Cosafa.
The rankings considered 187 matches from Fifa World Cup and the warm-up matches ahead of Uefa Euro 2024, Copa America 2024 and the Oceania Football Confederation Nations Cup, according to a statement from Fifa.
The world football governing body’s statement reads in part: “Between the Fifa World Cup 26 and the warm-up matches ahead of Uefa Euro 2024, the Copa America 2024 and the Oceania Football Confederation Nations Cup, there has been no shortage of international action since the previous edition of the Fifa Coca-Cola Men’s World Ranking was published in April.
“No fewer than 187 national team bouts have been contested since then, and the throng of changes in the latest standings therefore come as no surprise.”
Meanwhile, the top three is unchanged with world champions Argentina at the summit, while France second and Belgium third.
But there is movement behind them as Brazil fourth from fifth and England fifth from fourth, Portugal on sixth, the Netherlands lie seventh and Spain on eighth consolidate their spots in the top 10.
Malawi’s opponents in World Cup qualifiers Group H, Liberia, who are under immediate-past coach Mario Marinica, have gained most ground as they moved 10 places to position 142.
They drew against Namibia, who are also in Group H, and managed a 1-0 victory over Sao Tome and Principe.
Namibia are the second biggest movers, having gone up nine places to 97th whereas Ghana are up four places to 64th. Benin are now 91st, up six places.
