Malawi face towering Afcon qualifying challenge in Senegal

Two Malawi players posted on their Facebook pages their picture sandwiching a Senegalese man, almost twice their height, in Dakar. That picture encapsulates the towering challenge Teranga Lions pose to the Flames on Friday.

The bottom-placed Flames, winless in two consecutive Group L games, have their backs to the wall against the joint leaders in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier at the Abdoulaye Wade Stadium.

Little wonder then that coach Patrick Mabedi, whose promising reign is following a very similar pattern of disappointment, flew out to Dakar early this week under the radar.

The Flames are smarting from a home 2-3 loss to Burundi and a 3-1 punishment by Burkina Faso last month.

MOUNTING PRESSURE ON EX-CHIEFS CAPTAIN

Such back-to-back defeats prompted a crisis meeting, which resulted in the Malawi FA ordering the former Kaizer Chiefs skipper to abandon his backfiring youth-centric approach and recall seasoned campaigners Richard Mbulu and Lloyd Njaliwa.

The Mozambique-based duo joined experienced Yamikani Chester in the squad.

The comeback of these players has not dampened calls for the return of controversial South Africa-based poster boy Gabadinho Mhango.

Such calls are expected to increase unless the Flames pull off shock victories in Dakar and at home against the same opponents next Tuesday.

For Malawi, the struggle has been real, leaking six goals in the last two matches.

Overall, the Flames have won once, 3-1 over Principe & Sao Tome, in the last five games across all competitions to heap more pressure on Mabedi.

The former Flames defender had impressed in a caretaker role after replacing his boss Mario Marinica in April 2023, only for the inevitable to happen after being handed a fulltime job.

CISSE'S SHOCK EXIT FROM SENEGAL

In the opposite camp, Pape Thiaw is in temporary charge of Senegal stepping in for Aliou Cisse whose tenure ended last week.

Cisse paid the price for unimpressive three 1-0 wins and two draws in the last five games for Senegal, mostly against minnows such as Burundi and Mauritania.