Malawi Scorchers to meet either Zambia or Comoros in semifinals of COSAFA Women’s Championship 2024

* The two teams tie on points but Zambia are top due to goal difference and if they tie on both after this afternoon’s match, they will go straight into penalty shootout to determine who finishes top of Group C

* The match will be followed by another decisive Group D game between Mozambique and Lesotho with Mozambique needing only to draw

Maravi Express

Zambia and Comoros share 3 points apiece in Group C of the COSAFA Women’s Championship 2024 and they are meeting this afternoon from 12h00 in their final game, whose winner will meet Malawi Scorchers in the semifinals

The two teams tie on points but Zambia are top due to goal difference and if they tie on both after this afternoon’s match, they will go straight into penalty shootout to determine who finishes top of Group C.

The match will be followed by another decisive Group D game between Mozambique and Lesotho with Mozambique needing only to draw to book a place in the semifinal against South Africa.

But if Lesotho win it will be a three-way tie, along with Zimbabwe, for top place and goal difference will decide. Both matches will be streamed live on FIFA+ from 12h00 and 15h00.

The defending champions, Malawi — who beat Zambia 2-1 last year to lift the title — made sure of their progress to the semi-finals with the one-sided 9-0 walloping of Mauritius to finish top of Group B and join hosts South Africa in the last four.

Just like coach Lovemore Fazili had said in his pre-match interview that they will go flatout to score more goals the Scorchers started on fire and were 3-0 up by the end of the first half.

Leticia Chinyamula scored the first goal just eight minutes into the match and moments later Sabina Thom was on target from the spot after a video assistant referee (VAR) intervention following a foul on Faith Chinzimu.

Asimenye Simwaka’s 27-minute strike gave the Scorchers a comfortable 3-0 lead as the match went into recess.

There were two half time changes with Catherine Kachala and Sarah Mulimbika replacing Mary Chavinda and Carolyn Mathyola respectively and just five minutes into the second half, Kachala set Chinyamula to score her second goal of the match.

VAR was again involved at 64 minutes as Sabina Thom was brought down and a penalty kick was awarded to the Scorchers, which Sabina converted to make it 5-0.

The Scorchers could not stop scoring as Chinyamula claimed her hat-trick nine minutes later while Sabina grabbed hers at 77th with substitute Catherine Kachala registering her name on the score sheet five minutes to the end of the match before Maureen Kenneth scored the team’s 9th goal from the spot in the dying minutes of the game, again after VAR intervention.

Coach Fazili was the happiest man after his girl’s show: “The performance has been extremely good and this is what we planned during our training and it seems the girls took the instructions correctly.

“We played three defenders and more attackers because we knew how important scoring was to us and it has worked for us,” said the coach.

There were two biggest victories yesterday — Malawi 9-0 Mauritius and South Africa 8-1 Seychelles, joining two others before; Namibia 7-0 Seychelles and eSwatini 6-0 Seychelles.

The Scorchers also beat Lesotho 9-0 in the 2020 edition. Although South Africa had already secured top place at the weekend, they slammed the Seychelles to make it three out of three wins in the group phase.

Malawi had started their final match significantly trailing Botswana on goal difference in Group B but in the end took top place by two points.

There were two hat-tricks scored from Leticia Chinyamula (8′ 50′ 79′) and Sabina Thom (23′ 70′ 83′) and one each from Asimenye Simwaka (27′), Catherine Kachala (85′) and Maureen Kenneth (90+8′).

In the other Group B match, Botswana were held to a goalless draw by a 10-man Madagascar, who saw Marie Sarah Rasoanandrasana sent off in the 50th minute but held out thanks to the goalkeeping heroics of Anastasie Soanrivo.

Botswana needed to win to stand any chance of taking top place but as hard as they tried they met with stubborn resistance.

Namibia finished runners-up in Group A after Zenatha Coleman scored both in their 2-0 win over eSwatini.

For South Africa, Kesha Hendricks got a hat-trick with contributions from four others while Paula Moustache’s late penalty meant Seychelles left the tournament with a goal to their name.

From 16 matches played, 16 goals were scored in which top scorers are 3 apiece from Leticia Chinyamula & Sabinah Thom (Malawi), Zenatha Coleman (Namibia), Kesha Hendricks (South Africa), Yaone Modise (Botswana), Tenanile Ngcamphalala (eSwatini) and Fiola Vliete (Namibia).

There are 2 each from Asimenye Simwaka (Malawi), Ethel Chinyerere (Zimbabwe), Ivone Kooper (Namibia), Sinamile Mkhwanazi, Ayesha Moosa & Tshegofatso Motlogelwa (South Africa), Celiwe Nkambule (eSwatini) and Marie Sarah Rasoanandrasana (Madagascar).

One each are from Faith Chinzimu, Catherine Kachala, Maureen Kenneth (Malawi), Haloua Ahamada, Nasrati Ali Alicia Chanfi (Comoros), Twelikondjele Amukoto (Namibia), Regina Chanda, Lungowe Namasiku & Ochumba Lubanji (Zambia), Keitumetse Dithebe (Botswana), Julie Gopal (Mauritius), Christabel Katona (Zimbabwe), (Zambia), Nobahle Mdelwa, Jessica Williams & Ntando Phahla (South Africa), Laone Moloi & Gaonyadiwe Ontlametse (Botswana), Paula Moutasche (Seychelles), Louisa Nambininjanahary, Sylvia Razananivo & Helisoa Ny Kanto (Madagascar), Nokuthula Ndlovu (eSwatini), Aurora Ngale (Mozambique), Maria Ponda (Angola).—Content by COSAFA Media & Fam.mw; editing by Maravi Express