Malawi National Football Team, the Flames will be seeking to redeem themselves and avoid a third straight defeat in the on-going 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers when they face Tunisia away in Tunis on Monday evening at the Stade Olympique Hammadi Agrebi.
Flames saw their promising start to life under Kalitso Pasuwa suffer a setback last Thursday, as they fell to a 1-0 home defeat against Namibia’s Brave Warriors.
This was second consecutive defeat for Malawi in Group H of the qualifiers, following their 1-0 defeat to Equatorial Guinea in June 2024.
Despite having won two of their first three matches, Malawi are seven points behind the group-leaders Tunisia and will be looking for a positive result to remain in contention for qualification.
Malawi’s have struggled against Tunisia who managed a 1-0 win in November 2023 in the reverse fixture at BNS in Lilongwe.
However, the Flames can take encouragement from their last trip to Tunis in September 2010, when they held Tunisia to a 2-2 draw in a 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.
For Pasuwa and his charges, replicating such a performance would be a major achievement against a Tunisian side that has been in imperious form and dominant in Group H, boasting four wins in five matches and remaining unbeaten so far.
Despite last Thursday’s setback against Namibia Pasuwa remains optimistic that his charges can pull a result in Tunisia.
“The morale is okay. After losing, as a coach, you need to encourage the boys to say it happens. Against Namibia, everyone thought it was going to be easy, but unfortunately, it didn’t go as expected. It’s one way of saying we had to collect three points.
“International matches are games of chances. If you make one mistake, you are punished. Our player was injured and was treated outside, and these guys [Namibia] took advantage of that to score a goal when we were numerically disadvantaged. We have been talking to the boys to say, sometimes we need to be strong.”
Looking ahead to the Monday encounter, Pasuwa is clear on the tactical approach his side needs to adopt.
“Now, we are meeting Tunisia, a team that at times struggles, and we have been telling our boys to just go and play the game. We know where we made mistakes, and we have worked on them so that we can try to give something in the game.”
The coach stressed the importance of both attacking intent and defensive solidity against the North Africans.
“The tactical approach is that we need to attack, and we need to be very solid in how we defend. Tunisia is good on the counter, they have speed and yes, we need to manage numbers.”
