Malawi Scorchers didn’t show up as expected—Coach Fazili as his team got thrashed 0-3 by South Africa’s Banyana Banyana

* We had problems in front and midfield and though the defence and goalkeeper tried, we have had a bad day

* We have learnt some lessons through the game and going to the second match, we have seen the areas that need to be worked on

Maravi Express

After being thrashed 0-3 by South Africa national women’s football team yesterday, Malawi Scorchers head coach Lovemore Fazili told Fam.mw that his combination of players did not play as expected as he hopes to build a stronger team for the upcoming Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAfCON) assignment against Angola in October.

In their first of the two friendlies, whose next is on Tuesday, Banyana Banyana struck early through Nonhlanhla Mthandi after 13 minutes before Linda Motlalo compounded the Scorchers’ misery with a 23rd minute goal from the spot kick after Rose Alufandika was adjudged to have handled the ball.

Mthandi scored her brace 10 minutes after half time, in the game which South Africa coach Desiree Ellis is prepare her team for the defence of the WAfCON 2025 to be played in Morocco in July.

Fazili said: “We had problems in front and midfield and though the defence and goalkeeper tried, we have had a bad day. We have learnt some lessons through the game and going to the second match, we have seen the areas that need to be worked on.

“The main was to test some players especially the new ones so that we know which team we will work with come October and we have seen that some of them need to be drilled more so that we should have the best team by the time we will be facing Angola.”

The Scorchers beat Banyana Banyana 4-3 in their last encounter in the COSAFA Women’s Championship 2023, and played at the University of Johannesburg, Soweto Campus, Fam.mw reports that it was clear the hosts were out for revenge.

After trailing 0-2 at half time, Fazili brought in Zainab Kapanga and Tendai Sani for Chisomo Banda and Fanny Magombo but the change did not yield the desired for the Malawian ladies as the hosts dominated possession.

The Scorchers were without some influential foreign-based players such as the Chawinga sisters, Tabitha and Temwa — but ahead of the match on Friday, coach Fazili was confident of a good show for his subjects, saying he trusted the majority of the domestic league-based to use the absence of the foreign legion to show us what they are capable of delivering.

The two friendlies come at the back of other two the team were afforded with against Zambia Copper Queens in February as the Scorchers are intensifying their preparations for the WAfCON qualifier against Angola in October.

During the February FIFA Women’s International Window, the Scorchers lost the first match 0-2 before clinching a 3-2 win in the second match.

Meanwhile, South Africa’s coach Ellis used the game as a farewell Banyana Banyana’s Noko Matlou’s final appearance in international football in which the 39-year-old brought the curtain down on a 17-year international career that saw her capped 174 times for the national side.

South Africa Football Association (SAFA) website reports that the striker-turned-defender, who holds the honour of being the first-ever South African to win the Women’s African Footballer of the Year in 2008, came in as a substitute towards the end of the game and was welcomed with a standing ovation.

She is on the record as Banyana Banyana’s second most capped player of all time, only behind her former captain Janine van Wyk, who retired with 185 appearances.

Matlou’s long-time teammate Nompumelelo Nyandeni is also expected to receive her farewell cap with her 150th appearance when the two teams meet again for their second international friendly at the same venue on Tuesday.