{"id":78919,"date":"2019-06-08T01:07:43","date_gmt":"2019-06-07T23:07:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.times.mw\/?p=78919"},"modified":"2019-06-08T01:07:43","modified_gmt":"2019-06-07T23:07:43","slug":"flames-finish-cosafa-tourney-with-plate-final-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/2019\/06\/08\/flames-finish-cosafa-tourney-with-plate-final-loss\/","title":{"rendered":"Flames finish Cosafa tourney with Plate final loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mphatso Malidadi:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
CONCENTRATING ON JOB AT HAND\u2014Mwase<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Malawi national football team’s mission to win the Cosafa Plate for the second time ended in vain after losing to the hosts, South Africa<\/a>, 5-4 on post-match penalties at Moses Mabhidha Stadium Friday.<\/p>\n

It was a harsh defeat for the Flames who had a glimmer of hope following two disastrous and fruitless campaigns at the regional showpiece in 2017 and 2018.<\/p>\n

The two teams could neither be separated at full time nor at the end of extra time, forcing the game into sudden death.<\/p>\n

South Africa converted five spot kicks with the Flames depending on substitute goalkeeper Ernest Kakhobwe to save them from a worse result as he saved on two occasions.<\/p>\n

Kakhobwe, who was trying to make amends after gifting Zambia the equaliser in the quarterfinals of the competition, saved penalties taken by Thendo Mukumela and Jemondre Dickens.<\/p>\n

Malawi scored through Gabadinho Mhango<\/a>, Stanley Sanudi, Richard Mbulu and Peter Cholopi while Christopher John Banda, Micium Mhone and Charles Petro missed.<\/p>\n

Both teams featured relatively developmental sides in this year’s edition of the competition.<\/p>\n

South Africa Coach, Stuart Baxter, opted for under-23 players as he had one eye on the forthcoming Africa Cup of Nations whereas Flames interim boss, Meke Mwase, has blended youthful players with some experienced ones.<\/p>\n

It was an open game in the first half with both teams having good chances to take the lead but neither managed to score.<\/p>\n

Flames players were determined to impress but it was obvious that they were suffering from burnout having played five games in 10 days compared to South Africa’s two.<\/p>\n

After resumption, Mwase pulled out Gerald Phiri Jnr, who appeared injured, for Chikoti Chirwa and later introduced Peter Banda for Chimwemwe Idana.<\/p>\n

Flames captain John Banda tested Bafana Bafana goalkeeper, Mondli Mpoto, with a long shot but the custodian was equal to the task.<\/p>\n

The hosts also responded with some decent attempts from Reeve Frosler and Kamohelo Mahlatsi which went in vain.<\/p>\n

The game went into extra-time and South Africa created better chances with Mahlatsi being the major culprit.<\/p>\n

Malawi continued to live dangerously in the second quarter of extra time with South Africa creating several chances but failed to find the target.<\/p>\n

The Flames were forced into a late substitution after goalkeeper, Brighton Munthali, suffered an injury and was replaced by Kakhobwe who also made a late save.<\/p>\n

Man-of-the-Match John Banda said it was disappointing to lose the game.<\/p>\n

“We started this tournament well but it is disappointing that we have lost to South Africa. We just need to take positives from this tournament,”<\/em> he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mwase said it was a tough game as his players were exhausted after playing more games than their counterparts.<\/p>\n

“But I am happy for my boys because they worked hard throughout,”<\/em> he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mphatso Malidadi: Malawi national football team’s mission to win the Cosafa Plate for the second time ended in vain after losing to the hosts, South Africa, 5-4 on post-match penalties at Moses Mabhidha Stadium Friday. It was a harsh defeat for the Flames who had a glimmer of hope following two disastrous and fruitless […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":78922,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78919"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78923,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78919\/revisions\/78923"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}