The Malawi National Football Team suffered a heartbreaking defeat when they conceded in the dying minutes of their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Equatorial Guinea at Estadio de Malabo on Monday afternoon.
It was a game in which the hosts pushed for an early goal, but they were denied by George Chikooka’s excellent saves throughout the opening minutes of the match.
Patrick Mabedi made two changes to the side that defeated Sao Tome 3-0 on Thursday last week, with Henri Kumwenda and Patrick Mwaungulu starting in place of Chifundo Mphasi and Robert Saizi.
With 28 minutes played, Chikooka was caught in no man’s land when he attempted to clear a very dangerous cross from a free-kick that landed at Salvador, but Nickson Mwase made a timely clearance to deny the hosts from taking a lead.
In all fairness, the match was level due to Chikooka’s excellent performance between the sticks as he kept on denying the hosts from finding the back of the net.
The shot-stopper was called into action again to deny Salvador from scoring. The goalkeeper came out of his line to make a quick save after Malawi’s defense was caught off guard with a through ball from the midfield.
Salvador was causing havoc to our defense and he almost made a breakthrough in the 35th minute when he connected well a cross into the box, but once again, Chikooka was very alert to deny him from finding the back of the net and that was all for the half.
In the second half, Mabedi pulled out Mwaungulu and Kumwenda for Wisdom Mpinganjira and Mphasi to try to add firepower upfront as Malawi, at this moment, had no shot at goal.
Unlike the first half, the hosts weren’t very much offensive as Malawi got organized in the midfield through Lloyd Aaron who was now closing the gaps that were there in the first half.
Mabedi pulled out Lanjesi Nkhoma and Chawanangwa Kaonga for John Banda and MacDonald Lameck, perhaps going for experience in the last stages of the match.
Chikooka was called into action in the 78th minute to clear a set piece which was conceded by Lameck.
The last ten minutes saw the hosts doing everything to get a goal, but Malawi’s back-four, with the assistance from Chikooka, stood firm to collect a valuable point away from home to move back into the third position with eight points.
With 28 minutes played, Chikooka was caught in no man’s land when he attempted to clear a very dangerous cross from a free-kick that landed at Elsavador, but Nickson Mwase made a timely clearance to deny the hosts from taking a lead.
Chikooka was called into action again to deny Salvador from scoring. The goalkeeper came out of his line to make a quick save after Malawi’s defense was caught off guard with a through ball from the midfield.
Salvador was causing havoc to our defense and he almost made a breakthrough in the 35th minute when he connected well a cross into the box, but once again, Chikooka was very alert to deny him from finding the back of the net and that was all for the half.
In the second half, Mabedi pulled out Mwaungulu and Kumwenda for Wisdom Mpinganjira and Mphasi to try to add firepower upfront as Malawi, at this moment, had no shot at goal.
Unlike the first half, the hosts weren’t very much offensive as Malawi got organized in the midfield through Lloyd Aaron who was now closing the gaps that were there in the first half.
Mabedi pulled out Lanjesi Nkhoma and Chawanangwa Kaonga for John Banda and MacDonald Lameck, perhaps going for experience in the last stages of the match.
Chikooka was called into action in the 78th minute to clear a set piece which was conceded by Lameck.
The last ten minutes saw the hosts doing everything to get a goal and they found it in the 82nd minute when Salvador connected well from a free-kick to give Equatorial Guinea a deserving lead. The defeat means that the Flames failed to regain their third position as they are stuck in fourth position with seven points.
