The Malawi Women’s National Football Team, the Scorchers will be looking to redeem their pride when they face Zambia’s Copper Queens in their second and final match of the Three Nations Tournament at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe on Sunday evening.
The team started the competition with a 2-1 loss to Zimbabwe’s Mighty Warriors at the same venue on Friday night. But they have a chance to bounce back quickly this evening as they renew their rivalry with Zambia.
It promises to be a thrilling match as the two teams will be meeting for third time this year. The two teams shared fortunes when they met in two international friendly matches at Reiz Arena in Lusaka, Zambia in February, 2025.
Zambia beat Malawi 2-0 in the first match but the Scorchers avenged with a 3-2 victory in a five-goal thriller.
Before that, Zambia defeated Malawi 2-0 in the semifinals of the 2024 Cosafa Women’s Championship at Isaac Wolfson Stadium. Then, it was a sweet revenge for the Copper Queens as the Scorchers beat them 2-1 to lift their first ever Cosafa Women’s Championship title in 2023.
The two nations are familiar foes having met on several occasions. Malawi and Zambia drew 1-1 in the 2022 CAF Women’s TotalEnergies Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) Qualifiers at Bingu National Stadium on October 20, 2021. But Zambia went on to win the tie 4-2 on aggregate after a 3-2 victory in Lusaka, Zambia in the second leg.
The two teams were also in the same group at the 2020 Cosafa Women’s Championship but the Scorchers stunned Zambia 1-0 and progressed to the semi-final of the Cosafa Cup for the first time in nine years then.
Scorchers coach Lovemore Fazili, who dropped some of the regulars including Captain Tabitha Chawinga and Vanessa Chikupira to the bench will likely reshuffle his line-up against Zambia.
Fazili hinted at fielding a strong squad against Zambia as his focus is on WAFCON finals preparations. “We will try to put a team which is definitely going to participate at WAFCON finals next year,” said Fazili. “The game is going to be tough but we will try as much as possible to have a better performance than what we did against Zimbabwe. We will try to put all mercenaries so that the team can be very strong.”
Fazili will have majority of the players that played against Zambia in February. Temwa Chawinga and Asimenye Simwaka are not available due to injuries.
Zambia assistant coach Charles Halubono said they expect a tough match against Malawi. “We have to take this game seriously as it will help on the preparations for the WAFCON finals. Malawi has improved a lot after qualifying for the WAFCON finals,” said Halubono.
Malawi and Zambia are preparing for the WAFCON finals to be staged from March 17 to April 2 in Morocco next year. The Three Nations Tournament will conclude with a match between Zambia and Zimbabwe on Tuesday.
