Malawi crash out of Cosafa Beach Soccer Tournament

Malawi yesterday crashed out of the 2024 Cosafa Beach Soccer Championship after going down 9-6 to guest side Morocco in the semi-final at the South Beach Arena in Durban, South Africa.

It was a painful loss for Malawi, who at one time led 4-1 only for the Moroccans to stage a dramatic comeback and level the scores before winning the match 9-6.

Malawi started on a bright note, taking the lead barely two minutes into the match through Dala Simba who  finished off an Issac Kajamu effort. Moments later, O’Brien Nkhumbula made it 2-0 as Malawi took the game to the Moroccans.

But the North Africans pulled one back to make it 2-1 after six minutes.

Towards the end of the first period, Kajamu restored the two-goal lead with a superb strike from a set-piece.

A minute into the second period, Sandram made it 4-1 for Malawi and they appeared to be in the comfort zone.

But it wasn’t to be as Morocco made a strong comeback scoring three goals in five minutes to level the scores by the end of the second period.

Morocco then went on to take the lead at the start of the third period, making it 5-4.

An own goal by a Moroccan player saw the two teams level at five-all for, creating some hope for Malawi.

In the 30th minute, Morocco struck twice within a minute to make it 7-5.

Then  Kajamu’s goal in the 33rd minute gave Malawi hope of a comeback, but disaster struck when Mark Billiat scored an own goal.

Morocco then sealed their victory with a late goal and it was over.

Malawi face another guest side Saudi Arabia this afternoon in a third-place play-off while Mozambique, who thumped Saudi Arabia 8-1 in the other semi-final, clash in the final.

Despite the loss, Malawi coach Willy Kumilambe said he was proud of his team’s performance.

He said: “My players gave out their best. We have lost because the intensity was too much  for my boys as they do not have much experience.

“We started losing concentration and the heat did not help our cause either.”