Reigniting Flames

Malawi National Football Team interim Coach Kalisto Pasuwa got down to business Monday with a strong message that he wants to build a strong team that can compete on the international stage.

The Zimbabwe Warriors former coach took charge of his first training session as Flames gaffer in Lilongwe Monday ahead of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers against Burundi in Ivory Coast on Thursday and Burkina Faso at Bingu National Stadium (BNS) in Lilongwe next Monday.

Pasuwa said although the Flames were out of the qualifiers, the two matches were important for him to instill confidence in the players.

“Each and every coach who comes needs a result but as much as you need a result you cannot just wake up and have a result. We need to build a team that will compete on the international stage, hence the reason we are trying to call each and every one so that we can build a team around some of the senior guys who were around.

“But for it to be a good team, we need to have confidence, hence in these matches, we cannot just throw them away just because we are out. We need to push ourselves to do well,” the Zimbabwean said.

Pasuwa, who was named Flames caretaker coach after Patrick Mabedi was sacked last week, named a 25-member squad ahead of the academic matches.

However, the FCB Nyasa Big Bullets mentor had 13 local players during Monday’s training session as some players were involved in TNM Super League matches on Sunday.

He has recalled South Africa-based striker Frank Gabadinho Mhango and Romania-based defender Charles Petro.

Striker Richard Mbulu, captain John Banda, Lloyd Njaliwa, Dennis Chembezi and Chawanangwa Kaonga have also been included in the squad.

The team is expected to fly out of the country today for Thursday’s game.

The Flames are without a win in the Afcon qualifiers, having lost all the four matches.

Malawi lost 3-2 to Burundi at BNS before suffering a 3-1 loss to Burkina Faso in Bamako, Mali.

They lost 4-0 away in Dakar to Senegal before suffering a 1-0 loss at home to the Lions of Teranga.