Flames interim coach Kallisto Pasuwa praised his charges for displaying positive attitude in their goalless draw against Burundi in a 2025 AFCON qualifier in Abidjan on Thursday afternoon.

This  was the team’s first  point and clean sheet in the campaign as going into the match  the Flames, who are already out of contention for a place at the continental showcase had  no point after losing all the previous four matches.

Pasuwa, who was taking charge of the Flames for first time since his appointment two weeks ago, said the result will help bring back the confidence to the boys ahead of the  last match against Burkina Faso on Monday in Lilongwe.

“0-0 is a good result to us considering the fact that most of the boys, we did not train with them. And what we wanted was to be solid when we are without the ball. Then at times we would catch the opponents, and they did well. They defended well and we had some chances from that that we felt that we would have carried the day. But, unfortunately, we couldn’t.  But a good result for a start.

“In the first half, we saw it also on our side that we had problems of set pieces but then the boys stood tall and we managed to be on toes with them. And they also tried to hit us on the sides, which we know the boys on the right side  played well and they tried to close them down. But it was transitions from defense to attack which were slow maybe because we did not have much time to train together.  We will have to see when we get back home.

“The result brings confidence to the boys who played. And to everyone else who is in the house that with this result maybe we can raise up our heads and soldier on.