Malawi reach Cosafa’s last four after beating Comoros

Patrick Mwangulu unleashed a performance from the top drawer as Malawi has cruised into the semi-final of the 2023 Hollywoodbets Cosafa Cup after flaming Comoros at the Moses Mabhida Stadium.

Off the back of two consecutive wins, Patrick Mabedi made one change as Patrick Mwangulu was drafted into the starting eleven replacing Bangwe’s attacker, Robert Saizi.

The 21-year-old produced a dazzling performance as he won a penalty for Malawi before plundering his first goal for the senior team.

Mabedi’s boys have reached the semifinals of the tournament with a 100 per cent record as they had previously punished Zambia and Seychelles without conceding a dot of a goal.

Going into the last group B match, Malawi were just shying out of a point away from booking the slot in the last four teams in the Southern Region tournament but they did it extremely well to bag three points as Chawangwa Kaonga also registered his first goal at the tournament.

Flames had their first chance from the set-piece that Mwaungulu swung in and Kumwembe connected it over before Comoros goalkeeper, Salimo denied Lanjesi Nkhoma an opener after being picked up by Alick Lungu.

With his brilliance in long balls, pace, and hard work, Mwaungulu proved to be a hot object difficult to be stopped by Comoros. Two fouls were won by the youngster in a space of two minutes, first one outside the box but the second one was inside the penalty area.

The supporters who had a monosyllabic response to the performance of the team, were in elation. It was not even worth transcribing. It did not make the embargoed copy and the audio was entombed in a dictaphone gathering dust somewhere. “Malawi, Malawi, Malawi” was the vocal support that was originating from the Durban based Malawians.

Their relentless vocal support was paid off after 24 minutes. Flames penetrated through Mwaungulu who was about to shoot but he was brought down in the penalty area and the referee couldn’t delay to make the right decision of pointing to the spot.

Patrick Mabedi’s squad has been dominated by local players, only Chawangwa Kaonga and Chifundo Mphasi are the foreign based players. Kaonga is the veteran who is being played in the “hole”, with his experience, the penalty spot couldn’t be taken by anyone. He took the responsibility to put Malawi in front by sending the goalkeeper the wrong way.

A few minutes later, Flames thickened their lead. Mwaungulu’s dazzling performance could get recognition as he tapped in from close-range. Chimwemwe Idana arrowed the shot that ricocheted from the post and on follow up was the number 22 who made less effort to node it home and put the game away from Comoros’ reach.

Soon after hooking off Christopher Kumwembe for Gaddie Chirwa due to a knock, Malawi nearly extended their lead but Idana put his effort wide.

A 19-year wait ends in style

Even if the Flames fails to get their hands on the trophy, the praise will still shower on to the players, Coaches and the Football Association of Malawi to the large.

The last time Malawi reached the semifinals of the tournament was back in 2003.

Malawi have been runners-up in two COSAFA Cup competitions, reaching the final for the first time in 2002 and then making the decider again the following year

Although they were beaten in both legs of the finals by South Africa and Zimbabwe respectively, the Flames have shown they are a side to be reckoned with.

Malawi beat past winners Angola and Zambia on their way to the final in 2002 and the next year disposed of Zambia again on penalties in the semifinals.

Mabedi’s Malawi seems to be on the verge of bringing a strong record in regional competition that the team had having win East and Central African Senior Challenge Cup three times – in 1978, 1979 and 1988.

For the recent years, the Flames have been producing the below-par performance failing to reach the semifinals of the tournament.

They lost on penalties to Zimbabwe in the quarterfinals of the COSAFA Cup in 2013, and were then beaten 3-2 by Angola in the Plate semifinals.

They were again beaten in the quarterfinals in 2015, this time by Mozambique, but would go on to lift the Plate competition as they defeated Zambia in the decider.

They did not make it out of the first round in their showing in 2016 in Namibia, though they claimed two wins in the group stage, and also exited in the first round in 2017 and 2018.

They finished top of their pool in 2019 though, but were unlucky losers via a penalty shoot-out against eventual winners Zambia in the quarterfinals. They made it all the way to the Plate Final, but lost again on penalties to host South Africa.

With three games down the line, Malawi have just two games away from breaking the jinx of falling short of the grabbing the trophy.

They had little time to prepare for the tournament as there were some disagreements between the Super League of Malawi and the Football Association of Malawi but against all odds, they have performed wonders and they are in the semis.

Malawi will face Lesotho in the next round of the tournament.