The Malawi National Women’s Football Team begin their the regional title defence campaign as they face Botswana in the 2024 Hollywoodbets Cosafa Women’s Championship first group stage match this afternoon.
All eyes will be upon the Scorchers to see if they will be able to defend their maiden championship after winning all the games in last year’s edition.
The Scorchers had their first training session at the Nelson Mandela Bay Upper Stadium on Tuesday afternoon and Coach Lovemore Fazili said his charges are ready for the campaign.
“We are prepared and everyone is geared for the opening game and the tournament in general. As defending Champions, we know that teams are going to come hard on us but the girls are here to defend the championship.
“We have played with all our opponents before and they have very good players just like we do. Botswana were at Wafcon and we know that they are a strong side but we be our at our best to get maximum points,” he said.
The team has faced a setback in preparation for the tournament as most of the foreign based players who were called into camp did not make it.
Only Mary Chavinda and Vanessa Chikupira who play in Zambia have joined the squad while TP Mazembe’s Sabina Thom is expected to arrive today making her unable to feature in the match.
Fazili however said that the absence of the seven foreign based players will not affect the team very much as he has taken on board some players whom he believes will fit into the shoes.
“The absence of the other foreign based players won’t affect us much because we already had plan B in case they don’t show up and we trust the squad that we have travelled with this time and the team is very strong “, said Fazili.
Malawi and Botswana last met in the 2022 Cosafa Women’s Championship edition in a game which ended one all.
