Malawi Under 20 Women’s National Team head coach Maggie Chombo Sadik has praised her players for securing a hard fought 1–1 draw against Guinea-Bissau in the first leg of the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup preliminary round played at Estádio 24 de Setembro.
The hosts opened the scoring shortly after the break when Quita Da Silva converted a free kick in the 48th minute. However, the Young Scorchers showed resilience and were rewarded in the 75th minute when Sarah Mlimbika struck the equaliser to give Malawi a valuable away result.
Chombo commended her charges for their fighting spirit against a strong opponent.
“Let me thank the players for the effort they put in. It was an intensive match against a strong team, but they tried their best and Sarah Mlimbika managed to get us the goal,” said Chombo.
She said the substitutions she made during the match were tactical and proved effective, especially given the limited information available on the opponents.
“The changes I made were tactical and they worked. As I said before, we did not have time to study our opponents because their videos were not readily available online. All in all, the good thing is that we have salvaged a draw away from home, and I hope we will finish them at home,” she said.
The coach added that she was particularly impressed with her team’s performance in the second half.
“I am impressed, especially with the second half. The girls were nervous in the first half, but at half time I told them to play our usual game, pass the ball and keep possession. That is how the goal came,” Chombo explained.
Despite the positive result, Chombo admitted that finishing remains an area requiring improvement ahead of the return leg.
“Our main challenge is finishing. When we go back to Malawi, we will work a lot on scoring because that will be key in the second leg,” she said.
The two sides will meet again next weekend at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe. The winner on aggregate will advance to the next qualifying round, where they will face either Nigeria or Senegal.
