Sports analyst Tadala Manda believes the Malawi National Women’s Football Team, the Scorchers, must improve on finishing their chances as the team prepares to face Cameroon in the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations final.
This comes after Malawi secured a 3-1 victory against Algeria on Wednesday at the Stade Olympique de Rabat in Morocco.
Manda said the team had a winning mentality but failed to win by a larger margin due to squandering clear opportunities.
“If we do this against Cameroon, we are going to be punished,” she said.
She said the Chawinga sisters were the standout performers.
“Tabitha and Temwa have managed to score 9 combined. So, scoring those beautiful goals helped the team to reach their first-ever final, and it was a great performance from the great players,” Manda said.
This means Temwa has 5 goals, a joint-top goalscorer with Zambia’s Barbra Banda, while Tabitha has 4 goals.
In post-match interviews, Temwa said many underrated her side.
“I am so happy because, like you know, a lot of people did not give us a chance like we can reach this level. So we showed the whole world that we have good players,” Chawinga said.
Coach for the Scorchers, Lovemore Fazili, thanked God for the victory as he acknowledged that the game was a difficult one.
“We have proceeded to the finals, which is good for the first time. This is very important to us Malawians and on Sunday we will also try to play well and win,” Fazili said.
President of the Football Association of Malawi, Fleetwood Haiya, writing on his Facebook page, said: “another victory. Another historic milestone. We are through to the final”.
On 16 August, Malawi faces Cameroon, who knocked out the WAFCON hosts 3-1 on post-match penalties on Wednesday evening.
