FULL TIME
Malawi 1 (James Lumbe 49′) -1 Angola (Paulo Luvumbo 69′)
The Malawi U17 National team registered a second draw at the ongoing 2025 TotalEnergies U17 Africa Cup of Nations after a one-all stalemate against Angola.
Coach Enos Chatama was forced to make an early change bringing in Geoffrey Chinyama for Simplex Kachingwe at 32 minutes.
The two teams could not find the back of the net as the first half ended goalless.
Three minutes after the break Malawi won a freekick on the edge of the18-yard box after a foul on Clifford Chisale and James Lumbe’s set piece scored from the set piece to make it 1-0.
The Junior Flames had a number of chances to extend the lead but the boys were not composed enough to find the back of the net.
Paul Luvumbo equalised for Angola in the 69th minute.
Malawi faced a setback six minutes to the end of the match as James Msongole was sent out after receiving a second yellow card of the match.
Malawi got another freekick with two minutes remining, same position where the first goal came from but this time around goalkeeper Dala saved.
Speaking after the match, Chatama said the team had a very good game but the boys lacked composure in the final third hence missing a lot of chances.
“We had a very good game plan We closed the Angolans and we created a lot of chances only that we were not clinical in front of the goal. If we were confident enough, we could have scored a lot of goals but the boys lacked composure.
“We scored a goal in the early minutes of the second half but we failed to defend it because the boys failed to make formation adjustments to cover where the opponents were coming from.
“We will approach the next game with positivity hoping to score more goals and proceed to the knockout stage whether as leaders or best second placed,” he said.
The draw has put Malawi in a tight spot in as far as qualifying to the knockout stage is concerned as they are currently third with two two points while Angola and Mozambique have four points each as they both defeated Lesotho.
Malawi will therefore have to defeat Lesotho with more goals on Sunday Sunday and pray for a draw in the match between Angola and Mozambique if they are to proceed as group leaders or at least hope for qualify as best second placed team.
Lineup: Geoffrey Gama, James Msongole, Tadala Mughogho, Joel Maziya (Thole Sachenja 72′), Francis Alfazema, Moffat Munyontho, Hassan Madula, Yusufu Namtunga, James Lumbe. Clifford Chisale, Simplex Kachingwe (Geoffrey Chinyama 32′)
