Malawi’s campaign in the 2025 Hollywoodbets COSAFA Cup has began on a disappointing note with a narrow 1-0 defeat to Lesotho, sealed by an 83rd-minute goal from Makara Ntaitsane.
The decisive moment came after a foul by Chikumbutso Salima on Lesotho winger Teboho Letsema in the 82nd minute.
From the resulting free-kick, Leluma Phosholi delivered a pinpoint cross that was headed down to Ntaitsane, who calmly chipped the ball over Malawi goalkeeper George Chikooka into the top right corner.
Initially, the goal was ruled out for offside. However, after a three-minute Video Assistant Referee (VAR) review, the decision was overturned and the goal stood, giving Lesotho the lead.
In response, Malawi made quick substitutions in search of an equaliser, bringing on Gaddie Chirwa for Timothy Silwimba and Blessings Singini for Wongani Lungu.
Despite the changes, the Flames failed to create any meaningful chances as the match ended 1-0 in Lesotho’s favour.
Malawi had started the match on the front foot, pressing high and controlling possession with accurate passing.
However, their dominance was undermined by a lack of clinical finishing in front of goal.
At the start of the second half, Malawi looked to strengthen their attack by introducing Promise Kamwendo and Andrew Jovinala in place of Maxwell Paipi and Zeliati Nkhoma.
But it was Lesotho who began to grow into the game, launching dangerous counter-attacks. Still, Malawi’s defence held firm until the late breakthrough.
Lesotho’s Thabo Makhele was then named the player-of-the-match.
Statistically, Lesotho created more opportunities, registering eight shots with three on target, while Malawi managed just two shots with none on target, despite dominating possession.
Flames Assistant Coach, Peter Mponda, said it was an ‘evenly balanced game’.
“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 we are in now,” Mponda said.
Lesotho’s Coach, Leslie Ntosi, said the game was ‘quite tough’ for his charges because Malawi had created a lot of opportunities.
“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 out of that,” Ntosi said.
This was the first game in Group B. Fellow group mates, Angola, the defending champions, played a 1-1 draw against Namibia on Thursday evening at Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein, South Africa.
The tournament’s opener saw hosts, South Africa, fall 1-0 to Mozambique, courtesy of Antonio Augusto Sumbane’s 73rd minute goal. This was followed by a 0-0 result between Mauritus and Zimbabwe. All these teams are in Group A.
Group D shall have its first game as Zambia takes on Comoros on Friday while Group C shall have its games on Saturday when Tanzania locks horns against Madagascar.
