Pasuwa gambles on fresh blood as Flames face Lesotho in critical ranking battle

With Malawi’s FIFA ranking sliding and the 2027 AFCON qualifiers draw looming, Kalisto Pasuwa is using the Lesotho friendlies as an audition ground for new talent in a high-stakes gamble that could define the team’s qualification campaign before it even begins.

The back-to-back friendlies against Lesotho this month at the Toyota Stadium represent far more than routine preparation matches. For head coach Kalisto Pasuwa, they’re a calculated risk: an opportunity to blood new players and assess squad depth at a moment when Malawi can least afford missteps.

The numbers tell a concerning story. Malawi has dropped two places in recent FIFA rankings to 128th, and with the AFCON qualifiers draw approaching, every position matters. Higher rankings mean better seeding, which translates to more favorable opponents and a clearer path to qualification. Yet here is Pasuwa, handing maiden call-ups to Europa Point FC’s Yann Kouakou and introducing Chifundo Mphasi to his setup for the first time, while also recalling players like Uchizi Vunga and Blessings Mpokera who haven’t featured regularly.

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“This will help us assess some of the players who have not been getting minutes in our previous matches,” Pasuwa explained, acknowledging the experimental nature of these fixtures. It’s a bold approach considering the opponent: Lesotho may be ranked sixteen places below Malawi at 144th, but they haven’t lost to the Flames since 2009. Seven meetings without a Malawi victory, including three defeats, should give anyone pause about treating these matches as low-pressure experiments.

The coach’s comments reveal the delicate balancing act he’s attempting. “We have had some good performances, but good performances alone are not enough. We need to convert those performances into wins,” Pasuwa stated, before adding that expectations remain constant: to improve and, crucially, to win. Yet his squad selections suggest he’s willing to sacrifice short-term certainty for long-term squad building.

The timing amplifies both the opportunity and the risk. Malawi’s recent form shows two wins from five matches against Namibia and Equatorial Guinea, balanced by defeats to São Tomé and Príncipe and Botswana, plus a draw with Liberia. It’s the kind of inconsistency that demands answers, not more questions. Introducing untested players against an opponent with a strong recent record against Malawi could either unearth hidden gems or expose vulnerabilities that damage confidence heading into the qualifiers.

Lesotho arrive in poor form themselves, having won just once in their last six outings while losing to Angola, Namibia, South Africa, Benin and Nigeria. That solitary victory came against Zimbabwe, proving they remain capable of results even amid struggles. For Pasuwa, this represents the ideal testing ground: an opponent dangerous enough to provide a genuine challenge but vulnerable enough that experimentation might not prove fatal.

The sixteen foreign-based players in the 26-man squad suggest Pasuwa isn’t abandoning competitive ambition entirely. He’s walking a tightrope between preparation and performance, between discovering new talent and maintaining momentum, between long-term planning and immediate results that could influence the AFCON draw.

“The games are of utmost importance as they will help in our preparations for the qualifiers and meet our target, which is qualifying for the tournament,” Pasuwa emphasized. “They will also have impact on FIFA Ranking, and we need to win and move up places because it will determine our places during the draw.”

There lies the central tension of these friendlies. Pasuwa needs wins to improve Malawi’s ranking and seeding prospects, yet he’s using the matches to evaluate players who haven’t proven themselves at this level. It’s a gamble that could pay dividends if the newcomers deliver and the team secures victories, or backfire spectacularly if experimentation leads to defeats that further damage rankings and confidence.

When the first match kicks off on 15th November, Pasuwa will discover whether his calculated risk was strategic genius or costly miscalculation. With the 2027 AFCON qualifiers just around the corner and the disappointment of missing the 2025 finals still fresh, these friendlies have transformed from preparation exercises into a referendum on Pasuwa’s squad-building philosophy and his ability to balance present needs with future ambitions.