Defining moment for Flames

The focus this evening will turn to Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Abeba, where the Flames engage the Walias in their quest to clear one final hurdle for a third premier African football showcase appearance early next year.

It is a showdown that is expected to be so fiery and passionate, a potentially epic battle that will drive soccer-mad Malawians, who will follow the proceedings as they unfold through radio commentary and social media, in a bewildering gut of emotions.

So, this is it—all our dreams, all our hopes, all our fears about the 2015 Equatorial Guinea campaign being defined this evening.

All our contrasting emotions, all our devotion to the Flames and all our pessimism will be defined tonight.

The showdown starts at 6pm local time and the nation will probably wake up tomorrow enveloped by a feeling of celebrating a grand triumph or searching its soul after yet another failed campaign.

Bitter memories still linger of how the Flames failed at the last hurdle; not once, not twice, certainly not thrice, but four times in the past and the ones that come to mind are the Nd’jamena nightmare of 2011 when they allowed Chad to snatch an equaliser in the very last minute of added time to deny the Flames a successive appearance at the 2012 continental showpiece.

And who can forget the events of 1997 at Machava Stadium in Maputo where the Flames needed a draw against Mozambique, but blew it up in the last five minutes when they gave up a 1-0 lead to go down 2-1? And even when they ended their 26-year wait to make their second appearance at the Nations Cup in 2010, the Flames lost their last decisive match 1-0 away in Burkina Faso, but thank God, Cote d’Ivoire, who had already qualified, smoothened the path for them by beating Guinea.

According to reports filtering in from Addis Ababa, despite the tricky situation the Flames find themselves in, they were an oasis of calm as they went through their paces during yesterday morning’s training session.

Captain Joseph Kamwendo, who was part of the historic squad that qualified for the 2010 finals, said there was an air of relaxation within the Flames camp compared to last Saturday’s tie against Mali.

Coach Young Chimodzi was equally cautious.

“We cannot even count on Algeria. We will have to start where we stopped from against Mali and even engage an extra gear because we need to win by a two-goal margin. Our focus will be to fight for an early goal,” said Chimodzi.

The Flames need to win this evening to qualify, but they will also be counting on group leaders Algeria—whose qualification is already guaranteed—to either beat or hold Mali.

A draw could also be an option for the Flames to sail through in the event that Mali also lose to Algeria.

In the event that both Flames and Mali lose, win or draw, then Mali will sail through courtesy of their better goal aggregate.