Mabedi changes tune
Flames coach Patrick Mabedi believes the Malawi National Football Team can perform a miracle and qualify for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals despite the odds being stacked against them.
This is in sharp contrast to what he said after suffering back-to-back defeats against Burundi 3-2 and Burkina Faso 3-1 that the Flames do not stand a chance .
In an interview on Wednesday, the Flames mentor said God can favour Malawi just as He did with the reigning continental champions Ivory Coast in the previous 2023 edition’s finals which they hosted.
The Elephants of Ivory Coast were on the brink of a humiliating exit following a 0-4 loss to Equatorial Guinea in their final Group A match, a development that sparked violent protests in that country and players had to be escorted to their locker room under tight security.
However, they endured a nervy wait and sneaked into the last 16 as the best losers before eventually taking the ultimate glory.
Malawi anchor the four-team Group L without a point. Burkina Faso and Senegal are tied on four points but the former top the table on better goal difference. Burundi lies third with three points.
This means the Flames must win their remaining four qualifying matches against Africa’s highest-ranked team Senegal away on October 7 and at home on October 15, against Burundi away on November 11 and against Burkina Faso at home on November 19.
“In our group, we are playing against top-quality teams such as Senegal and Burkina Faso, whose players turn up for top teams in Europe,” Mabedi said.
“However, miracles do happen in football and what happened with Ivory Coast is a good example. We cannot regain what we lost. We just have to accept and improve. Although chances are slim, we don’t have to give up until we finish the race and God can give us favour.”
But veteran football tactician Yasin Osman and soccer analyst Parry Chinyama believe, realistically, Malawi hardly stand a chance of qualifying.
“Considering the statistics, it is difficult for Malawi to qualify as other teams in their group have three or four points,” said Osman. On his part, Chinyama
said although he also believes that miracles do happen in football, particularly to those that believe in divine intervention, he would not want to deliberately annoy the Holy Father regarding the Flames.
“People can choose to believe in what they want, including Mabedi. But I would be realistic that Malawi has no chance of qualifying for Afcon finals. The team that has no point in the group and has let in six goals. This speaks volumes of our inability to resurrect from any remaining fixtures,” he said.
“I like the brave face the coach has worn, but it’s high time we accepted the shambolic performance of his lads. If we believe Ivory Coast was just a best loser, then we are cheating ourselves. The earlier the coach
accepts that we are down and out the better.”
Currently, the Flames are among the seven national teams that have lost both games across the 12 groups of the qualifiers and five of them are from the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa) block, namely, Malawi, Lesotho, Botswana, E-swatini and Namibia. The others are South Sudan and Guinea.
Angola are the best-performing team from Cosafa so far as they are among the seven sides that top their groups with six points from straight wins alongside Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Algeria, Ivory Coast and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Another Cosafa team Mozambique, leads Group I on better goal difference after a tie on four points with Mali.
There are 48 national teams that are competing for the 24 slots in the 35th edition finals of the continental showpiece scheduled between December 21, 2025 and January 18, 2026 in Morocco
