Flames suffer heavy defeat
No hunger, no partern, no goal. Ten-man Flames yesterday suffered a 4-0 thumping at the hands of Cameroon in their second-leg of the 2022 Qatar World Cup qualifier at Orlando Stadium in South Africa to register an aggregate 6-0 defeat.
Although they had nothing to lose in the latest encounter considering that they were already out of contention for the finals of the global showpiece, the Flames were expected to at least leave a blister on the Indomitable Lions’ face to salvage Malawi football’s pride and prove their strength ahead of the 2022 Africa Cup of Nation (Afcon) finals.
The Flames conceded their first goal in the 22nd minute when Malawi’s John Banda got a straight red-card after handling the ball in the box before Cameroon captain Vincent Aboubakar stepped up and scored from the spot.
The visitors doubled their lead 18 minutes later through Moumi Ngamaleu, who unleashed a low drive from a corner-kick to beat goalkeeper Brighton Munthali on the near post for the first half to end 2-0.
Cameroon substitute Moungang Bassogog put beyond the Flames’ reach with a second-half brace. He scored his first in the 84th minute when he dribbled past defender Francis Mlimbika before slotting it in through Munthali’s legs.
He completed his brace two minutes later with a powerful drive from inside the box.
The Flames first realistic chance came in the 17th minute when Mzava’s header missed the near posts by a few inches after Gerald Phiri Jnr curved a wonderful corner-kick.
The Flames also lost 2-0 in the first leg away.
They are third in four-team Group D with three points while Cameroon now leads the pack of 12 points. Ivory Coast are second on 10 points while Mozambique anchor the table on no point. Flames assistant coach Lovemore Fazili admitted that the Flames did not play well.
He said: “The fact that we conceded many goals means our performance was not good, especially for a team that is preparing for Afcon finals. This is a bad performance so far,”
“We will see what to do to rectify our mistakes and have a better performing team ahead of the Afcon finals.” He admitted that the team’s intensity levels were high but they lacked creativity to get the much-needed goals.
