Bitter pill to swallow: Flames coach hopes for the future
By Precious Msosa
Flames head coach Kallisto Pasuwa has described the Monday 2-0 away defeat to Tunisia in the ongoing World Cup qualifiers as painful after his boys worked tooth and nail to win the match.
The Flames succumbed to late goals scored by substitute S. Jaziri in the 85th minute before A. Abdi sealed the victory through a penalty in the added time. Malawi’s chance to grab a face saver through veteran Richard Mbulu’s spot kick in what was the last kick of the match was saved by Tunisia goalkeeper.
The goals came after probable man of the match goalkeeper William Thole had denied the home side a couple of scoring opportunities. However, the Flames were dealt a big blow when midfielder Lloyd Aaron was shown the red card following a second yellow in the 64th minute.
Speaking in an interview soon after the match, Pasuwa did not hide his frustration.
“It’s a painful defeat after we had played well to frustrate the home side. They couldn’t manage to breakthrough, we did well defensively and we also had some chances that we could have taken but unfortunately we couldn’t. All in all, we went all the way to the 85th minute where the boys were still solid again but unfortunately the numbers couldn’t allow us to do that,” said Pasuwa.
He, however said all the goals were not clear ones beginning with the first which he said was scored from an offside position and the other one being a soft penalty. He said this is why when the referee noted that he had goofed, he also awarded the Flames a soft penalty which Mbulu eventually missed.
“But that’s the painful side of football and all what I can say is that the boys were very resilient and with time, we will definitely get better. The fighting spirit was there, let me also say that most of the guys in the Tunisian side are Europe based while for us most were locals. It was not easy to play those guys because they are technically sound but the boys tried and we can see the direction,” he said.
With the defeat, the Flames are now fifth in Group H with 6 points from six games, Tunisia lead the group with 16 points from the same number of games and are already in the Promised Land.
Namibia who handed the Flames a 1-0 loss at Bingu National Stadium four days ago are second with 12 points following a 1-1 draw against Equatorial Guinea at Peter Mokaba Stadium in South Africa. Liberia are still third with 10 points following a 2-1 win over Sao Tome and Principle who anchors the table without a point. Equatorial Guinea are fourth with seven points from 6 points.
