Flames Head Coach Kalisto Pasuwa has maintained 24 of the 26 players who featured in last month’s FIFA World Cup Qualifiers against Namibia and Liberia, in his final 25-man squad for the upcoming encounters against Equatorial Guinea and São Tomé and Príncipe.
The Flames will host Equatorial Guinea on 9th October 2026 at Bingu National Stadium, before travelling to Tunis for the away fixture against São Tomé and Príncipe on 13th October.
The squad includes 15 foreign-based players, among them Jubril Okedina, who returns to the team after missing out on recent fixtures.
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Okedina who plays for Bohemian F.C. in Ireland is set for his first competitive appreance after featuring in the Four national torunament in March last year.
Coach Pasuwa’s charges are expected to regroup in Lilongwe on Sunday, 5th October 2025, to begin preparations for the two fixtures.
Here is every word by the coach after releasing the squad:
On Chimwemwe Idana and Stanley Sanudi’s omission
“I think my answer is: I am a new coach. The coaches who were around before can talk about their squad selections, but this is the squad I choose.
“I am Coach Pasuwa, and the coaches that were around had other names. I cannot talk about Idana when I am Pasuwa—maybe there’s a reason, tactically or technically.
“I don’t know how I can explain it. Maybe they are not part of the squad that is supposed to be playing. Of course, when I see they are fit to be part of the team, I will call them.”
On selecting forwards who are over 30 years old
“We are playing games and we have two areas that we need to cover as coaches. One, we need to be getting results. Two, we need to build up a team. In this case, it’s only one striker at times who plays, and I have 3-4 strikers who are supposed to be playing. I am testing each and every striker to see who should be part of the squad.
“We had CHAN, we have COSAFA, and if anyone was fit enough to play more than Gabadinho Mhango, he would have been in the squad. So we are saying yes, we will nurture them to be part of us, but I also need clubs to be helping the players to be part of the national team.
“I can go and take a player—yes, we called him—but if he is not having game time, we can’t include him in the national team. This is the national team and we only train at times twice.”
Areas of focus and targets
“These are two games which are very crucial to me in building a team. Meeting a team like Equatorial Guinea—that’s one of the bigger teams in Africa—and I will say when building a team, we can’t say after playing one game that we have the 11 players that we need.
“We will build up starting from the back going forward, so we have areas we are looking at to say: if we have these players, can they match a team which is physical when playing? And when playing teams like Morocco, they will come with another type of style, so we need to see how we can match that.
“Remember also, we don’t go there and say we are just building. If I say I’m building, it’s the same—you will come and hammer me. If I tell you I’m building, you tell me we need results, we don’t care what will come. So at times we need to be patient enough. Even if I’m taking 30-year-olds, they need to be tactically good in order to be part of us.”
On Jubril Okedina
“I have been talking to him and I have been following him, and that’s the reason why I have called him to the national team. I had the same problem with Chembezi. Remember, Chembezi didn’t have a team until he got one—I think we called him one week after getting a team. I have been following Okedina and at times giving him training programs for him to be training on his own.
“I have been talking to him during the inactive period. Remember, when one goes to look for a team, no one will take a player who is not fit to play. You can’t sign a player just because his name is Okedina without seeing him playing. So them signing him, they’ve seen something in him.”
Personal assessment of the Flames
“As of now, I can’t talk of one area to say ‘this one.’ We are working to build up a team that is complete, that can qualify for AFCON. In doing so, we should have all the components of fitness in order for us to be a competitive team.”
On Babatunde’s chances to be at Flames
“Everyone has got chances to be part of the team, provided he has the qualities for the national team.”
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