Malawi’s quest for glory in the 2025 Hollywoodbets COSAFA Cup got off to a frustrating start as it fell 1-0 to Lesotho in a tightly contested battle marred by drama and controversy.
The painful moment arrived in the 83rd minute when Makara Ntaitsane’s goal, initially disallowed for offside, was awarded after a VAR review.
Entirely, the flames dominated in possession and pressed high early on, but struggled with finishing, unable to convert their dominance into goals, while Lesotho capitalized on a late set-piece to secure the win.
In the 82nd Minute Malawi’s Chikumbutso Salima erroneously brought down Lesotho’s midfielder Teboho Letsema, a development that called for a free- kick.
From the resulting freekick , Leluma Phosholi nailed a knife alike cross that was was headed down to Ntaitsane, who calmly chipped the ball over Malawi goalkeeper George Chikooka to the top right corner.
Instantly, the goal was ruled out for am offside before a three minute Video Assistant Referee ( VAR ) review. The review saw the decision being overturned and the goal stood, by giving Lesotho a lead.
As the haunt for an equaliser became hot, Flames’ made a quick substitution; bringing in Gaddie Chirwa for Timothy Silwimba and Blessing Singini replaced Wongani Lungu.
This never changed the game as ball possession landlords failed to create meaningful chances and make the reliable contacts to the ball.
Initially, at the start of the second half, Malawi tried to strengthen attack by introducing promise Kamwendo and Andrew Jovinala in place of Maxwell papipi and Zeliati Nkhoma.
They both lacked clinical finishing. Lesotho also started on a lower note in the first half, but grew wings in the second half with dangerous counter – attacks.
Notably, Lesotho was more physical than the flames were, and the game was characterized by fouls from both sides.
Meanwhile, Lesotho’s Thabo Makhele was named player-of-the match.
In a post match interview, Flames assistant coach Peter Mponda acknowledged that the team missed numerous opportunities and had alot defensive lapses.
He said; ” We did not have numbers to convert our positioning to chances. Unfortunately, we lost it at the very end because we lost possession. We could have defended better. It is painful but we have to go back and see how we are going to dug ourself out of this trench.”
On the other hand Lesotho’s Coach, Leslie Ntosi said the game was not easy for his charges as Malawi handed him unpredictable tactic.
“It was a physical game but we were able to absorb the pressure in the first- half and going into the second half we made some changes to bring in some creativity within the attacking phases and we ended up getting a goal put of that,” He said.
With the result , Malawi still has a chance to qualify into the next round but it needs to rely on other team’s assistance to proceed into the other stages.
The opening matches across the tournament have already produced surprises, with hosts South Africa defeated by Mozambique and defending champions Angola drawing with Namibia, setting the stage for an exciting group phase in this fiercely competitive regional showpiece.
This was the first game in group B which Malawi is listed in.
Zambia , listed in group D are set to go for their maiden match against Comoros on Friday while group C shall have it’s games on Saturday when Tanzania locks horns against Madagascar.
