FULL TIME
Malawi 1 (Asimenye Simwaka 7′) -0 Madagascar
The Scorchers on Saturday beat Madagascar 1-0 in their second group stage match in the ongoing Cosafa Women’s Championship in Gqeberha, South Africa
Asimenye Simwaka, scored the lone goal of the match in the 7th minute .
Malawi created several goal scoring opportunities in the first half but the girls could not take the chances
Coming into second half, Madagascar pressed for an equalizer but the Scorchers defence of Patricia Nyirenda, Rose Alufandika and Pilirani Malora were equal to task covering goalkeeper Mercy Sikelo.
Coach Lovemore Fazili said his subjects didn’t put up a good performance as expected but was glad that they collected maximum points.
“We did not expect Madagascar to perform the way they did today, they have improved and this is a good development in women’s football.
“The girls didn’t give the performance we expected because we thought that by the end of the first half, we could score a lot of goals which didn’t happen and we kept on missing a lot of chances. However, we have won the game and the battle is still on.
“We are playing Mauritius in the last game and we are not going to underrate them even though they have already conceded many goals. We also need to score more goals if we are to proceed to the next round so, we are still in it and we will fight. We will make sure that we work on all the areas in our training tomorrow so that we score and proceed”, said Fazili.
The Scorchers are now second in Group B with four points, same as group leaders Botswana but the Mares have a superior goal difference of five against Malawi’s one.
The group is now wide open as Botswana, Malawi and Madagascar all have a chance of topping the group and proceeding to the next phase depending on the outcome of Monday’s matches.
Lineup: Mercy Sikelo, Faith Chinzimu, Pilirani Malora, Patricia Nyirenda, Asimenye Simwaka, Sabina Thom (C), Maureen Kenneth, Catherine Kachala (Tendai Sani 42′), Leticia Chinyamula (Vanessa Chikupira 59′), Rose Alufandika, Bernadettar Mkandawire
