Under-20 national women team regroup for World Cup qualifiers

Coach Maggie Chombo-Sadik with her charges

Fam.mw

Malawi women’s Under-20 national football team started residential camp on Thursday in Lilongwe in preparation for the 2022 Costa Rica FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup preliminary round qualifying matches against Zambia.

However, 12 out of the 42 players that were called for camp have been released after testing positive to CoVID-19 during the tests done as part of the FAM’s camping protocols. All the players are asymptomatic and have gone into isolation.

FAM Competitions and Communication Director Gomezgani Zakazaka said the 12 have been ruled for the first leg but may be available for the return leg if they recover.

“At the moment they cannot make it for the first leg and this why they have returned home for isolation,” Zakazaka said. “However, we will be following up with all the positive cases to see who will recover in time for the return leg.

“It is a big blow to the team but we will have to work with the players that are available and no new players will be called into camp,” he said.

Malawi will start the World Cup campaign away in Lusaka on September 26, before hosting them in the second leg on October 9 at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe.

The winner between the two teams will face the winner between Mauritania and Ghana in the next round.