The Malawi National Football Team, the Flames, were held to a goalless draw by Lesotho in a tightly contested international friendly on Saturday afternoon in Bloemfontein.
Malawi started brightly, creating two early openings through Chifundo Mphasi and Lloyd Njaliwa. Mphasi saw his shot blocked by a defender, while Njaliwa’s attempt was smothered by the Lesotho goalkeeper.
Light showers made the pitch slippery, contributing to an open and end-to-end first half in which the Flames looked lively going forward. The teams went into the break deadlocked after two minutes of added time.
The Flames resumed the second half with renewed purpose, pressing high and pushing for a breakthrough. Coach Kalisto Pasuwa introduced Malango Mayele and Nickson Nyasulu for Alick Lungu and Patrick Mwaungulu to inject fresh energy.
Malango nearly made an instant impact with a long-range strike that was blocked, while Malawi continued to enjoy good spells of possession. Further substitutions saw Chokumbutso Salima replace Mhango, while Robert Saizi came on for Mphasi as Pasuwa looked for attacking solutions.
Despite improved movement and sustained pressure, Malawi were unable to find the winner, with the match ending goalless after three minutes of stoppage time.
Head Coach Kalisto Pasuwa described the encounter as a tactical battle and expressed disappointment that early chances were not taken.
“It was a very tactical game. We had chances in the first minutes that we should have buried. At times we played in areas where we were not dangerous, and that limited our threat in attack.”
Pasuwa also addressed Malawi’s longstanding psychological hurdle against Lesotho, having gone 16 years without a win over Likuena.
“It’s a mentality issue. Even today, in the last minutes of the game, they still believed they could score. I saw that belief in them — that they can win against us.”
He further highlighted the need to overcome Malawi’s tendency to concede late goals.
“For our boys, that mentality of conceding in the dying minutes has to change. We saw it at COSAFA where we conceded in injury time and lost. I want them to stay switched on and focused until the final whistle.”
