Malawi Vs. Ivory Coast: Malawi will need divine intervention

The National Anthem of Malawi:

God bless our land of Malawi,
Keep it a land of peace.
Put down each and every enemy,
Hunger, disease, envy.
Join together all our hearts as one,
That we be free from fear.
Bless our leader,
each and every one,
And Mother Malawi.

Without divine intervention there is no way Malawi can beat Ivory Coast. Drogba and Ivory Coast are better than Malawi “pound for pound“: the sum of its parts is greater than the whole or the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, whichever way you may state it. Ivory Coast better than Malawi in each and every way: as a team, player by player, position by position, etc. Now also factor in the following:

Flames’ left back Moses Chavula and right back Elvis Kafoteka (FIFA.com misspelled his name. More stats) have been ruled out due to injuries while defending midfielder Hellings Mwakasungula is serving a one match suspension after accumulating two yellow cards. Frankly speaking, Flames’ players will need to double team Drogba. Yes, Flames Captain (Peter Mponda) is a good defender but he can’t mark Drogba one on one. Drogba is just too good. Ask Carragher. The Flames will pay heavily if they will play attacking football. Sometimes if you know that you can’t win it’s advisable to just “park the bus in front of goal” and walk away with a point. I don’t think it will be a high scoring game because Ivory Coast just need a single point to be one of The 6 Teams to represent Africa at the 2010 World Cup.

I am not saying that Malawi can’t beat Ivory Coast. All I am saying is that they will need divine intervention. That said, I am predicting 1-0 (with divine intervention) in favor/favour of Malawi (I reserve the right to revise the prediction before the final whistle). The Flames need nothing but a win because once Ivory Coast clinch the World Cup spot this Saturday, Drogba and most of the experienced players will most likely not feature in their Group E final game against Guinea on November 14, 2009. Guinea will host Burkina Faso this Sunday. This weekend, if Guinea win and Malawi lose then Malawi may as well start preparing for 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.