Flames coach Patrick Mabedi says his charges are set for a first ever encounter with Equatorial Guinea in a 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier on Monday afternoon.

Coming from a 3-1 home win over Sao Tome on Thursday in Lilongwe, Malawi face a wounded  opponent who lost 1-0 away to Tunisia last week, a few days after FIFA nullified their first two wins in the campaign for fielding an ineligible player.

Speaking after his troops trained at the Match venue, Estadio Malabo on Sunday afternoon, Mabedi said the Flames understand the difficulty of the assignment as they are facing a stronger and determined side.

“We know that Equatorial Guinea is a better side than us . And now they are hungry for points after losing those six points  due to the FIFA decision.

“But my boys are here on a mission to compete and  et results and we are looking forward to win this game.

“Much as we respect our opponents, we do not fear them.  We have told the boys to be on top of their game and attack and not  sit back defending like how most teams do when they are playing away. The six points that we have now are history and even the boys know that this is a new game and we need to concentrate without looking at how we have performed this far,” said Mabedi.

Captain John Banda said: “We are here for a mission. We know how good our opponents are. They have a deep and well exposed squad. But we are here to compete and get a result.  We broke the jinx of failing to win in West Africa last year against Liberia and we want to continue from there.”

The Flames go into the match sitting on fourth position in the group H with Tunisia leading the standings followed by Namibia and Liberia