East or west, home is the best: The Flames return

The gods of football have yet again jilted the Flames whose hopes for a COSAFA Cup third-place finish flew up in smoke on Sunday afternoon.

Exactly 48-hours after going down to Lesotho in the semi-final, Malawi’s fortunes were again been dashed in a post-match penalty shoot-out that saw the hosts South Africa claiming the bronze medal.

Unlike the last time out when they failed to convert any of their penalties, this time around the Flames managed to score three before Christopher Kumwembe’s miss handed Bafana Bafana the advantage.

After the match, Flames coach, Patrick Mabedi, said; “we did well. Nobody expected us to reach this far. Penalties are everybody’s game so I am happy with my team.”

On the other hand, while the team won the fair play award, striker Chawanangwa Kaonga who scored two goals and won two Player the match awards was also named the 2023 Hollywoodbets Cosafa Cup player of the tournament.

According to a communiqué from the Football Association of Malawi – FAM, the Flames have this morning left Durban for Malawi where they will spend a night in Johannesburg before connecting to Blantyre tomorrow morning and will land at 2:35pm through Chileka International Airport.