Malawi secured a narrow 2:1 victory over South Sudan in the opening Group Stage match of the African Nations Cup qualifiers at Chibuku Stadium on Thursday. Adepoju Adebare Babatunde opened the scoring in the twentieth minute before Joseph Stephen Dhata doubled the hosts' advantage early in the second half, though Lloyd Njaliwa's late strike for the visitors prevented a comfortable win.
The twentieth minute proved decisive, with Adepoju Adebare Babatunde finding the net from close range after a period of sustained pressure. By then South Sudan had already shown they could be vulnerable at the back, a weakness M. Albano's yellow card in the twenty-eighth minute hinted at before the half-time break.
Joseph Stephen Dhata made it two goals to nothing in the forty-eighth minute, capitalising on a defensive lapse that would have troubled any coach watching from the stands. South Sudan responded with urgency, but their attempts lacked precision — Lloyd Njaliwa's sixty-fourth minute goal came late enough to suggest the hosts had switched off rather than the visitors had improved.
The statistics told a story of one-sided possession without one-sided dominance. South Sudan held 67 per cent of the ball and completed 24 passes compared to Malawi's 55, yet managed only two shots on target while Malawi landed two from four attempts. Several substitutions followed in the second half, with Patrick Mwaungulu and B. Singini among those brought on for the hosts, while South Sudan introduced Peter Chan and Gaddie Chirwa in search of an equaliser.
Four yellow cards were shown in the closing stages, with Joseph Stephen Dhata joining M. Albano, Francisco Madinga and R. Angier on the book for various offences. The result leaves Malawi top of Group 1 with three points, while South Sudan will need to regroup after a defeat that ended their hopes of a positive start to the campaign.
