Malawi Scorchers closer to their first-ever international title as they beat Mozambique 2-1 to reach 2023 COSAFA Women’s Championship final

Victorius picture courtesy of COSAFA website

* Date Zambia in the final after the defending champions beat Zimbabwe 1-0

* Temwa Chawinga tops the Golden Boot title with 9 goals followed by Thubelihle  Shamase of South Africa who are out of the competition

By Duncan Mlanjira

Malawi Scorchers are closer to their first-ever international title after they beat Mozambique 2-1 through a brace by captain, Temwa Chawinga this afternoon to reach the 2023 COSAFA Women’s Championship and they are expected to meet defending champions, Zambia in the final, who beat Zimbabwe 1-0.

A report by Confederation of Southern African Football Associations (COFAFA) website takes cognizance that Scorchers went into the match against Mozambique as the favourites having scored 15 goals with Temwa’s brace taking her tally to 17.

“Malawi enjoyed possession but could not break Neima Nhamire in the first half,” says the COSAFA report. “Seven minutes to halftime, Cina Manuel started the movement of the ball with Lonica Tsanwane waiting for her in the box but Benadetta Mkandawawire put the ball into her own net to give Mozambique the lead in the first half.

“The second half saw Malawi turn up the heat in search of an equaliser but they left it until the last 15 minutes [when] the tournament’s current top goal scorer Chawinga punished the Mozambicans with two quick goals that left no hope of a comeback for Luis Fumo’s charges.”

The Mozambicans will now fight to finish on the podium in the third place playoff against Zimbabwe on Sunday as the defending champions Zambia meet Malawi in the final.

From 20 matches played, 65 goals were scored with the biggest victory being Malawi 8-0 Eswatini on October 7 during the group stages in a match that Temwa scored 4.

This was after she had already scored a hat trick against hosts South Africa in their 4-3 triumph to become the top scorer with 9 goals as she eyes the Golden Boot followed by Banyana Banyana’s Thubelihle  Shamase, who is out of contention.

On four goals is Zambia’s Sarah Jere with her compatriot Fridah Kabwe at 3 while Malawi’s Leticia Chinyamula and Sabinah Thom have two apiece alongside Deolinda Gove (Mozambique), Balothanyi Johannes (Botswana), Luvunga (Angola) and Kesegofetse Mochawe (Botswana).

The Scorchers on the score sheet with one goal are Rose Kadzere, Carolyne Mathyola and Asimenye Simwaka while own goals are from Hadhirami Ali of Comoros and Malawi’s Benadetta Mkandawawire — who netted into her own net against Zimbabwe.

The Scorchers and Zimbabwe were meeting for the second time in three years at the COSAFA Cup as they met in the group stage in 2021 in which Malawi defeated Mozambique 3-2 and also in the first round of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics where the Scorchers came out top with a 14-1 victory on aggregate.

As Temwa is assisting to make history for the Scorchers at the COSAFA, her sister Tabitha is also making headlines in Europe after she became the first Malawi woman football to score in the UEFA Women’s Champions League match when she netted the first for Paris St. Germain (PSG) in their 2-2 draw on Monday night.

A video clip of the goal shows Chawinga receiving a long pass from the centre in the 53rd minute and she broke through her markers to find the ball to tap with her left foot beating the advancing goalkeeper Mary Earps in the goal area.

A report by the BBC says the goal rattled Manchester United who then made a substitution, bringing in Melvine Malard, who is on loan from Lyon, who headed in from a corner in the second half to cancel out Tabitha’s opener in the second qualifying-round tie.

The report further says England goalkeeper Earps was kept busy in the first half with her saves as she continued to gather in crosses and parry away shots from PSG.

An injury to PSG’s Oriane Jean-Francois, who was taken off on a stretcher after appearing to hurt her ankle in a challenge, halted play momentarily and in doing so, helped United regroup.

From then on, the English side were relentless in their pursuit of an equaliser and it deservedly arrived after 70 minutes.

The 27-year-old Tabitha, who is on loan from Wuhan Jianghan, was then substituted by Bachmann in the 84th.

On website, UEFA wrote: “Paris led early in the second half through Tabitha Chawinga, the first Malawian to score in UEFA competition, on a night when she was already becoming the only player from her nation to take part in the Women’s Champions League.”

And on her Facebook page, Tabitha said: “First UEFA Champions League match, first goal though it wasn’t enough to get us a win. Hopefully we will win at home. Thanks for the support and prayers.”

She becomes the third Malawian to player in the UEFA Champions League after men’s striker Esau Kanyenda and former Nyasa Big Bullets player Charles Petro.

Kanyenda who played for FC Lokomotiv Moscow between 2005 and 2007, was the first Malawian to play in the UEFA Champions League but he never scored any goal while Charles Petro also featured when he played for Sheriff Tiraspol in 2020.

Tabitha, who has been nominated on four previous occasions for the Africa Women’s Player of the Year award but always missed out despite her incredible successes, refuses to lose sweat as she remains hopeful her time will come — as she told CAFonline in June.

This followed her great performance when she won the Golden Boot award after scoring 23 goals in 21 games for Inter Milan — becoming the first African woman to win the prestigious title in Italy.

She was also on loan from Wuhan Jianghan and she told CAFonline ahead of the prestigious Confederation of African Football (CAF) Awards on December 11 in Morocco that: “Every player should desire to get that award. My eyes remain fixed on the prize.

“All in good time, my hands remain expectant whilst I continue to play good football. I was born with a gift. My duty has been to nurture the gift and nurturing a gift requires a willingness to continue learning and improving.

“So I am focused, I work hard, I am a team player, and always willing to learn and be exposed to new developments and skills in football.”

Chawinga’s feat in Italy also made her become the only African woman to win the league Golden Boot in three countries abroad after finishing as the top scorer once in Sweden and thrice in China.

She told CAFOnline.com: “I feel honoured but I am more humbled by the reaction from the African continent and my fellow countrymen and women in Malawi.

“I am simply honored to have been bestowed a gift to play football and to share this gift with the world. It’s a humbling experience for a young girl like me coming from one of the poorest countries in the world, Malawi.

“I thank Africa and my country Malawi for the unwavering support and for celebrating me on this feat. And I will most definitely continue carrying the African and Malawi flag in my future exploits. This means I can aim beyond the sky. So I look forward to more challenges in the game of football.”

On the four occasions she was nominated for the CAF Women African Player of the Year, she was beaten to it by Nigerian star Asisat Oshoala in 2022, 2019 and 2017 and by Thembi Kgatlana in 2018.