Malawi National Team’s dreams of securing their fourth qualification for the African Cup of Nations finals have realistically terminated but mathematically slimmed after a dreadful run of results in the qualifiers.
Patrick Mabedi’s team have collected 0 points from three games and they are potentially out of the tournament with three games to spare. It has been a journey to forget for the Flames who have been hammered in all their three opening fixtures, losing to Burundi, Burkina Faso and the recent hammering to Senegal.
Malawi were hoping to record their first-ever win over Senegal on Friday evening but their ambitions were slimmed just within the first minutes of the game when they were trimmed to 10 men after Goalkeeper, Brighton Munthali was sent off for an offence of denying a goal-scoring opportunity after bringing down former Liverpool star, Sadio Mane outside the penalty area.
An early setback pushed Malawi to the negative end of the game as they shipped in 4 goals without reply as they played the majority part of the game with one man less. Off the back of a home 3-1 defeat to Burkina Faso, Mabedi made six changes, handing start berths to Brighton Munthali, Lloyd Njaliwa, Timothy Silwimba, Patrick Mwaungulu, John Banda and Wisdom Mpinganjira with George Chikooka, Gomezgani Chirwa, Chimwemwe Idana, Lloyd Banega Aaron, Chifundo Mphasi among others missing in the starting Xi.
Soon after the red card to Munthali, Mabedi sacrificed Mwaungulu for Silver Strikers’ goalkeeper, Chikooka. The resilience lasted for just a few minutes before the hosts started pouring goals into Malawi’s net.
Villarreal’s midfielder, Pape Gueye made his debut for the Lions of Teranga in style, rated 7.8 by Flashscore. Senegal built a brilliant move to the first goal with Everton’s forward, Illiman Ndiaye, setting up Gueye on the edge of the penalty area, and the midfielder arrowed his left-footed effort to the crossbar before hitting the roof of the net in the 35th minute.
With their numerical advantage, Senegal outsmarted their visitors in all departments, creating several chances but they couldn’t extend their advantage until halftime.
Senegal faced Malawi just days after firing former Birmingham City midfielder Alipo Cisse, who has been the Head Coach for the team for nine years, powering them to the AFCON championship in 2022 in Cameroon. Pape Thiaw convincingly started his era, putting Senegal on one foot in the 2025 AFCON finals to be played in Morocco.
Mabedi employed a 4-4-2 formation before the red card, with Mwaungulu and Kaonga pressing Senegal’s defenders while Banda and Lloyd Njaliwa were in midfield with Wisdom Mpinganjira and Lanjesi Nkhoma operating from the flanks. However, Kaonga followed Mwaungulu to the bench just after the first half as Chimwemwe Idana was sent into the fray with Malawi playing without a striker.
Thiaw wanted his players to be more offensive, and he took Formose Mendy off for Strasbourg midfielder Habib Diarra, Lazio forward Boulaye Dia and Everton midfielder Iddrissa Gana Gueye replaced goalscorer Ndiaye and Monaco midfielder Lamine Camara, respectively.
The hosts scored three goals in 9 minutes to dash away Malawi’s dreams of salvaging at least a point. Sadio Mane doubled the lead for the hosts in the 68th minute after receiving a good ball from Cristal Palace attacker, Ismaila Sarr Dia added the third goal in the 71st minute. Chelsea forward, Nicolas Jackson hammered the last nail in the 77th minute after pouncing on Iddrissa’s ball.
Malawi finished the game with zero shots on goal and zero corner kicks, and they recorded just two goal attempts against Senegal’s 24. The Flames will be at home on Tuesday facing Senegal in the fourth round of the qualifiers.
Explained: How can Malawi qualify for the 2025 AFCON
Malawi’s dreams of returning to the prestigious tournament finals in 2025 have been slimmed by Senegal following the recent hammering. Mabedi’s side sits at the bottom of the four-member Group L table without a point in three games.
Senegal and Burkina Faso are leading the table with seven points each. The Flames will need to beat all their remaining opponents, Senegal at home, Burkina Faso at home and Burundi away. This will take them to 9 points, hoping for all the other fixtures to end in draws, and they will need to score 14 goals without conceding in their next three goals.
If Senegal loses to Malawi and draws to Burkina Faso and Burundi, they will have 9 points, if Burkina Faso loses to Malawi and draws against Senegal and Burundi, they will have 9 points.
