DD Sunshine are CR Pres Cup champs
DD Sunshine will represent Central Region at the National Presidential Women Football Cup finals after beating their rivals Skippers 4-2 on post-match penalties at Nankhaka Stadium in Lilongwe on Sunday.
The game ended goalless in regulation time.
The national finals will be held in Lilongwe on July 17.
Eluby Botomani, Madina Ngulube, Fanny Mwale and Sabina Thom converted their spots kicks for Sunshine while Bibisha Sonke and Tifa Malunjika scored for Skippers.
Shilla Dimba, Skippers’ new catch from Blantyre, had her penalty saved by Alice Msiska who was named player of the tournament.
Linda Kasenda sent her spotkick over the bar. Nevertheless, she won the Golden Boot Award with 15 goals.
This was the second consecutive defeat for Skippers at the hands of Sunshine in FAM/Fifa Cup last year. They lost 1-0.
In a post match interview, Sunshine coach Andrew ‘Aluki’ Chikhosi said they are looking forward to representing the region successfully at the national finals while his Skippers counterpart Lyton Mangani, struggled to come to terms with reality.
“It’s painful to lose twice to the same team in the finals. We could have killed the game in regulation time but we wasted a lot of chances. Penalties are unpredictable. Anyway, we are wishing our friends all the best at the national finals,” he said.
Skippers goalkeeper Logisi Zidana fainted in disbelief following the defeat. She took almost 20 minutes to regain her consciousness.
Football Association of Malawi (FAM) vice-president James Mwenda, who watched the game alongside FAM executive member Rashid Ntelera and National Youth Football Committee (NYFC), vice-general secretary Chimango Munthali, said he was impressed with the standard of play and pledged continued support for women football.
