* As Malawi Scorchers date Madagascar this afternoon in a must-win encounter to keep alive their dream of a semifinal slot
* Only group leaders will advance to the knockout stage of this year’s competition
* We are confident that we are going to get a positive result and with a good score line—coach Fazili
Maravi Express
Hosts South Africa have secured a place in the semifinals of the COSAFA Women’s Championship 2024 after a 3-0 win over eSwatini yesterday that earned the six points in Group A.
Meanwhile, Malawi Scorchers — who drew 1-1 with Botswana in their Group B opening match — are taking on Madagascar this afternoon at 15h00 live on FIFA+ in a must-win encounter to keep alive their dream of a semifinal slot alive.
Botswana will take on Group B leader, Mauritius, who beat Madagascar 5-1 in the opening match.
The Scorchers doing their paces in training yesterday
The match between the Scorchers and Madagascar is a fourth meeting at the competition and Scorchers will be aiming at maintaining their dominance over the islanders after winning all the previous encounters — 6-3 in 2017, 2-0 in 2018, again 2-0 in 2019 and last year, coach Lovemore Fazili charges won 3-1 enroute to their debut title win.
After a one-all draw against Botswana in the opening match, Malawi must collect all the three points and Fazili is confident of a positive result this afternoon.
“The team is well prepared and we have tackled almost all the departments in our sessions,” he told Fam.mw. “We are confident that we are going to get a positive result and with a good score line.
“We met Madagascar last year, and even though we won 3-1, they gave us a very tough run so we are not underrating them and looking at their performance against Mauritius, the team has improved tremendously.”
Fazili says he is delighted with the coming in of TP Mazembe striker Sabina Thom, who missed the first match as she was still in transit, saying her coming has boosted the team’s front line.
Sabina Thom
“We had a problem upfront in the previous match as we missed a lot of chances,” he is quoted as saying. “The coming in of Sabina has boosted our striking force and being one of the top performing players in our last year’s victory, we really needed her presence.
“We are looking forward to scoring more goals against Madagascar,” said the coach, whose other foreign-based players are Vannesa Chikupila of Green Buffaloes in Zambia and Mary Chavinda from Rayon in Rwanda, who were both in the First XI against Botswana.
Fazili is missing out seven top-notch the foreign-based players include sisters Tabitha and Temwa Chawinga; Chimwemwe Madise; Ireen Khumalo; Chioma Okafor, Vitumbiko Mkandawire and Rose Kadzere — who have been ruled out to their club engagements.
In the Group A encounter, South Africa treaded carefully against eSwatini, who beat Seychelles 6-0 in their opening match after the hosts had secured a 1-0 victory over neighbouring Namibia.
On their part, Namibia kept their hopes alive as they thumped Seychelles 7-0 but seven-time winners Banyana Banyana are assured of qualification as they lead with six points and can make it a full haul of nine if they beat Seychelles in their final match on Monday.
But even a defeat would see them progress — that is because only one of Namibia or eSwatini would be able to match their six points, but whoever it is, South Africa would trump them on the head-to-head rule having beaten both in the competition already.
A goal from 16-year-old Nobuhle Mdelwa in the first half, a stunner from goalkeeper Jessica Williams and late strike by Ayesha Moosa ensured that Banyana Banyana made it two wins from two.
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In the earlier kick-off, Fiola Vleite netted a hat-trick as Namibia defeated Seychelles 7-0 and the other goals came from the boots of fellow winger Twelikondjele Amukoto, Irene Kooper (two) and captain Zenatha Coleman, who also had two assists.
Namibia went into the encounter needing to win by a large margin to give themselves a shot at qualifying for the knockouts following their 1-0 loss to South Africa in the opener.
For the debutantes Seychelles this was their second loss on the trot and have conceded the most goals (13) so far at the competition in Gqeberha.
From 8 matches played, they have been 29 goals scored with the biggest victories being Namibia 7-0 Seychelles and eSwatini 6-0 Seychelles.
There have so far been two hat-tricks by Tenanile Ngcamphalala (eSwatini) and Fiola Vliete (Namibia), who need to increase their tally in their last match to stay in contention for the Golden Boot as they would have been eliminated then.
With two goals apiece are Ivone Kooper (Namibia), Celiwe Nkambule & Nokuthula Ndlovu (eSwatini) & Sarah & Sylvia (Madagascar); while one each are Faith Chinzimu (Malawi), Twelikondjele Amukoto & Zenatha Coleman (Namibia), Regina Chanda, Ochumba Lubanji & Lungowe Namasiku (Zambia), Julie Gopal (Mauritius), Louisa & Ny Kanto (Madagascar), Nobahle Mdelwa, Ayesha Moosa, Jessica Williams& Tshegofatso Motlogelwa (South Africa), Laone Moloi (Botswana) and Aurora Ngale (Mozambique).—Content by COSAFA Media & Fam.mw; editing by Maravi Express
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