Interim Namibia coach Ricardo Mannetti is confident that his side can upset the formbook in Group F and beat African champions Nigeria on Wednesday.
The Brave Warriors have home advantage for a match they must win to stay in contention for qualifying for next year's World Cup in Brazil.
"I just want the entire nation to focus on the game," said Mannetti. "It is a winnable game and we are at home."
Mannetti took charge on Monday after Roger Palmgren's sudden resignation.
The Swede quit after citing death threats against his family.
Mannetti and his fellow assistant Ronnie Kanalelo have been put in charge for the penultimate round of matches in the group.
Nigeria, who won their third African crown at this year's Africa Cup of Nations, currently top Group F with eight points, two more than Malawi.
Namibia have amassed four points so far, with Kenya - who take on the Flames in Malawi on Wednesday - having managed just two from their four games.
This round of Group F ties has been brought forward to enable Nigeria to travel to Brazil for the Confederations Cup - with the Super Eagles playing Tahiti in their opening game on 17 June.
Nigeria qualify for the competition as African champions but struggled in their last World Cup qualifier, winning 1-0 in Kenya thanks to a goal in the last ten minutes.
"Nigeria struggled away to Kenya last week, only scoring late on," said Mannetti. "As we all know, every now and then you get a surprise result - that's the beauty of football.
"Maybe on Wednesday, it will be one of those nights."
Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi is unsure how the resignation of Palmgren, who only took charge in early May, will affect the home players.
"I am not in a position to know how it is going to affect the players, but I would imagine that the coach leaving - at a point where the players have a crucial game - means they will be down a little bit," he said.
"But the good thing for the players is that he hasn't been with them for very long, just a month, so it might not be too heavy for them - they can deal with it."
Should Namibia stun Nigeria, Malawi could go top of the group if they beat Kenya in the day's early game in Blantyre.
The Flames, who travel to Nigeria for the final round of games in September, have made three changes to their squad for the match.
Coach Edington Ng'onamo has brought in striker Gabadinhio Mhango, who scored the winner against Namibia in March.
The 19-year-old missed last week's goalless draw with Namibia as he was sitting for secondary school examinations.
Angola-based defender James Sangala and John Banda of local club Blue Eagles are the other players to come in.
"I have asked my boys to sweat blood because if they don't do that, then we are out of the competition," Ng'onamo told BBC Sport.
"So it's a must-win game and the boys will go flat out so that we can win by a wide margin. To beat Kenya, we have to play attacking football."
Whichever team emerges top of Group F on the final weekend of qualifying on 06-10 September will enter the third and final qualification round, which will see 10 teams involved in five two-legged play-offs.
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