Striker Prins Tjiueza’s first-half strike handed Namibia a 1-0 win over hosts Malawi on Thursday evening for the Brave Warriors to climb into second place of Group H in 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying.
The Cape Town City FC player punished the hosts with a well taken strike in the 40th minute. Peter Shalulile chested a ball into the path of the young striker who fired the ball into the net to silence the Bingu National Stadium crowd in Lilongwe and hand Flames coach Kalisto Pasuwa his first defeat in charge of Malawi.
The game plan for Collin Benjamin’s men was clear: put more white shirts behind the ball and attack on the break with wingers such as Deon Hotto picking out Mamelodi Sundowns front man Shalulile with long and high balls into the box.
While Pasuwa’s men in all red dealt smartly with Shalulile by preventing him from scoring, the Flames had no idea on how to penetrate the three defensive lines with long and aimless balls pumped forward and misplayed passes on the counterattack working to the advantage of the visitors.
After the restart, Malawi coach Pasuwa substituted injured Mhango for Chawanangwa Kaonga while Patrick Mwaungulu made way for Gaddie Chirwa.
Nonetheless, Malawi were kept at an arms’ length while being limited to speculative attempts especially by Richard Mbulu who got to the end of a long ball but failed to chip the goalkeeper.
In another attempt, the UD Songo forward sent a weak header straight at goalkeeper Llyod Kadzapua after connecting Wisdom Mpinganjira’s delivery from the left wing.
Mpinganjira eventually left the pitch alongside Yankho Singo for Lanjesi Nkhoma and Lloyd Njaliwa who should have snatched a point for the Flames on the stroke of full-time but the midfielder missed a sitter off Mbulu’s ball from the left.
The defeat left the Flames still in fourth place of the group going to the March 24 away match against Tunisia who commanded a two-point lead over the Brave Warriors.
Ahead of the meeting with Namibia, the hosts come from a good run of three wins, one draw and one loss in the previous matches across all competitions.
Before Thursday’s tie, the Brave Warriors drew 0-0 against Kenya in the last outing in the AFCON qualifiers, the second goalless result in their last five matches including three losses.
Namibia host Equatorial Guinea on March 24 while Malawi travel for a meeting with group leaders Tunisia.
Group H Table
GP | Points | |
Tunisia | 5 | 13 |
Namibia | 5 | 11 |
Liberia | 5 | 7 |
Malawi | 5 | 6 |
Eq. Guinea | 4 | 3 |
Sao Tome | 4 | 0 |
The group winners qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup
Four of the nine group runners-up qualify for a playoff to determine Africa's representative at the intercontinental qualifying playoff.
Comments