The Malawi National Football Team, the Flames, will regroup on Monday to start preparations for the 2025 African Nations Championship second-round qualifier against South Africa next month.
The Flames will host South Africa’s Bafana Bafana on May 3 at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe before the second-leg match, scheduled for May 11 at Lucas Moripe Stadium in Pretoria, South Africa.
In an interview Wednesday, Fam Competitions and Communications Director Gomezgani Zakazaka said all was set for camp training.
“All things being equal, the team will go in camp on Monday,” Zakazaka said.
Zakazaka said Flames coach Kalisto Pasuwa was expected to name his provisional squad this weekend.
Pasuwa was not readily available for his comment on the issue.
But, earlier this year, the Zimbabwean gaffer admitted that facing South Africa would be an uphill task.
“We knew before the games started that we are going to play one of the African football giants. To be the best, we have to compete against the best,” he told journalists in March.
Pasuwa is likely to include more experienced local-based players for the match as South Africa are a tough nut to crack.
Meanwhile, sports analyst Parry Chinyama has said Pasuwa should select players on merit.
“South Africa are a very good side and, as such, we need the best local-based players to beat them. We need to prepare well for the match,” he said.
The match against South Africa comes one month after the Flames suffered back-to-back defeats in the 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers.
Malawi lost 1-0 to Namibia at home before suffering a 2-0 loss to Tunisia at Stade Olympique Hammadi Agrebi in Tunis.
Malawi advanced to the second round of the qualifiers following a 4-0 victory over Comoros on aggregate.
The Flames defeated Comoros 2-0 in the first leg away at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe before registering a similar result in the return leg.
Malawi has never qualified for Chan finals since its inception in 2008.
In 2022, they reached the second round but were eliminated by Mozambique on away goal-rule after registering a 1-1 stalemate on aggregate.
On the other hand, South Africa knocked out Egypt following a 4-2 victory on aggregate.
Bafana Bafana defeated the Pharaohs 3-1 in Cairo in the second-leg match after registering a 1-1 stalemate in the first-leg match.
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