Malawi's Africa Cup of Nations campaign will come to an end on Monday afternoon when they face Burkina Faso in their final qualification match at Bingu National Stadium.
The hosts have had a very poor qualification campaign and are currently at the bottom of the Group L standings, while the visitors are in second place behind leaders Senegal.
Match preview
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Having only managed a single point in qualifying for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, Malawi will miss out on making the main draw of Africa's premier cup competition for the second time in succession.
The Flames' fate was decided last month, though, after they were beaten back-to-back 4-0 on the road and 1-0 at home by Senegal, which took them to four consecutive defeats in the competition.
Thus, this month's matches were a mere formality for them, and with the pressure off, they managed to notch up a point, playing out a goalless draw away to third-placed Burundi on the road last week.
While they did get the point in the last match, newly appointed Kalisto Pasuwa's side never looked likely to push on for the victory, as they failed to register a single shot on target against the Swallows, extending their goalless run to three matches in a row.
Meanwhile, after reaching the last 16 at the Africa Cup of Nations earlier this year before bowing out to Mali, Burkina Faso have enjoyed another solid qualification campaign, earning 10 points in their five games.
Despite losing 1-0 to Senegal last week, the Stallions' spot in the 2025 edition of the AFCON to be held in Morocco was still confirmed, after they beat Burundi 2-0 in Abidjan on matchday four last month.
Brama Traore's side are currently six points ahead of the Swallows in the standings heading into the final match of qualifying, and they will finish second in Group L, regardless of the outcome of this matchup.
When these two met in Bamako back on matchday two of the competition, Burkina Faso secured a fairly comfortable 3-1 victory, which extended their unbeaten run against this opponent to seven matches (W5 D2 L0), dating back to June 2000.
Team News
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Pasuwa opted to call up Marumo Gallants' striker Frank Mhango to the national team for the first time in almost a year, and he was one of the standout players against Burundi, which will likely see him keep his spot in the starting 11 this week.
Yankho Singo is flagged as a doubt for this match owing to a minor knock sustained last week, and if he is unable to make it back to full fitness in time, he will likely be replaced by Lloyd Aaron in the starting lineup.
With this match having no consequence on the group standings, Traore is likely to make several changes in personnel here to allow some of his fringe players to get some first-team minutes under their belts.
Ousmane Camara and Josue Tiendrebeogo were the only two players brought off the bench last week and could be handed starts here, potentially for Cedric Badolo and Ousseni Bouda in midfield.
Benfica's Issa Kabore played the full 90 last time out and could be given a rest, which will likely see Mohamed Ouedraogo brought into the defence alongside Issoufou Dayo and Edmond Tapsoba.
Malawi possible starting lineup:
Chokooka; Lameck, Chembezi, Petro, Lungu; Aaron, Njaliwa, Chirwa, Nkhoma, Mhango; Kaonga
Burkina Faso possible starting lineup:
F Ouedraogo; M Ouedraogo, Dayo, Tapsoba, Yago; Simpore; Camara, Banse, Tiendrebeogo, Bande; Traore
We say: Malawi 0-1 Burkina Faso
Malawi have been the worst side in this group by some distance and we feel they will struggle to get anything against this Burkina Faso side, who will want to sign off from the competition with a victory.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
