By Pempho Nkhoma

Blantyre, June 12, Mana: Some football analysts have faulted Malawi National Football Team, the Flames’ attacking and lack of preparation as major contributors to their disappointing performance in the 2025 COSAFA Cup.

The Flames were booted out of the tournament on Tuesday having finished at the bottom of Group B with just a point from three matches.

Speaking in an interview on Thursday, a renowned football analyst, Charles Nyirenda attributed the team’s poor performance to its inability to score.

“The team played 270 minutes and failed to score a single goal. This can be that the team is failing to create scoring chances or inability to convert scoring opportunities,” he said.

However, another Football Analyst, Anointed Kamsampha, blamed the team’s poor performance on inadequate preparation.

“It seems the team never prepared thoroughly for the tournament considering that we had new and old faces, hence affected coordination. One or two friendlies could have assisted,” he said.

Kamsampha also criticized the team’s lack of technical skills, saying that national team players should possess basic football knowledge.

“We saw players lacking football basics on some occasions. Instead of shooting on goal in the box, they ended up playing back passes. Lack of communication and ball watching on the part of defense and the goalkeeper cost us the last game,” he added.

The last time the Flames took part in COSAFA CUP was in 2023 when they finished in fourth position despite having a strong group stage performance, winning all three matches in the group however, their journey ended in the semifinals with a 3-0 loss to Lesotho on post-match penalties.