COSAFA nation Malawi have booked their place at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations following a 1-0 victory over Uganda in their final qualifier in Blantyre on Monday.

Richard Mbulu’s early goal proved enough for The Flames, who return to the continental showpiece for the first time since 2010. Their only appearance prior to that was in 1984.

It is a historic moment for Malawian football and vindication of the work done by Meke Mwase since he took over reins of the side in 2019.

Malawi are currently top of their group with 10 points, but only Burkina Faso, who take on South Sudan later, can overtake them.

Uganda were heavily fancied to qualify for the finals, but can now only finish in third place.

Malawi join Zimbabwe and Comoros Islands as the two other qualifiers from the COSAFA region for the 2022 finals.

The latter were handed a glimpse at their task at hand after being humbled 4-0 by Egypt as they conceded all the goals in the opening 25 minutes of the game, Liverpool star Mo Salah grabbing a brace. Arsenal’s Mohamed Elneny and Mohamed Sherif got the others for The Pharaohs.

Angola picked up their first win of the campaign with a 2-0 success over Gabon as Show and Loide Augusto scored for the home side. Gabon had already qualified for the finals.