Malawi National Women’s Football team coach McNelbert Kazuwa says the cancelation of the 2022 Women’s AFCON qualifiers is blessing in disguise as it will give her side enough time to prepare for their first round tie against Zambia.

Scorchers were due to play Zambia’s Copper Queens next month and started camp on Sunday, only for CAF to announce on Tuesday evening that the matches have been pushed to October

According to a statement released by CAF’s Women’s Football Organizing Committee, the games have been postponed in line with the postponement of the Men’s World Cup Qualifiers from June to September this year.

The Committee has sighted the pitch conditions for some African Stadiums and the Covid-19 restrictions as reasons for the postponement.

Scorchers’ back-to-back matches against Zambia, which were set to be played between 7-15 June, will be played between 18-26 October October with the winner facing the winner between Namibia and Tanzania in second round scheduled for 14-23 February 2022.

“This postponement will help us prepare well for the Zambia match because the draw had just been done and we had come into camp to prepare for two matches in three weeks’ time.

“Our girls are coming from a year long on inactivity due COVID-19 and are set to start their local league in a few days’ time. Meaning by the time we play Zambia in October they would have improved on match fitness.

“With this postponement, we will also have enough time to look for international friendly matches for our girls to have an international exposure before encountering Zambia. So it’s a relief to us,” said Kazuwa.

According to FAM Competitions and Communications Director Gomezgani Zakazaka the Scorchers will break camp on Thursday.