Despite going down 3-1 to South Africa yesterday in the final of the Cosafa Zone Qualifying Tournament in Walvis Bay in Namibia, the Malawi Schools Girls’ Team qualified for the CAF Schools Tournament.
This is because South Africa automatically qualified as defending continental champions.
The CAF Schools tournament will be held next year at a venue and dates yet to be announced by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
According to cosafa.com, Malawi took an early lead through Rejoice Silungwe, the only goal South Africa conceded in the competition.
But South Africa hit back almost immediately through the competition’s top scorer Leonay Kock, who ended with a brace in the game. Lethuthando Mthembu scored the other goal for the champions.
Kock won both the Golden Boot with 11 goals and the Player of the Tournament. Her compatriot Mia Heneke won the Golden Glove for best goalkeeper, while Malawi took home the Fair Play award.
Malawi’s Okester Kanyenda won the golden boot in the boys’ category.
The Malawi girls’ side qualified for the final after beating Zimbabwe 2-1 on Saturday while the boys’ was booted out by South Africa aft by a similar margin.
In the group stages, Malawi came tops in the girls’section and were runners-up in the boys category.
The girls team played out a two-all draw against the hosts before beating Lesotho 5-0. They were awarded their 3-0 for match against Zambia because of the latter’s failure to show up while the boys’ side beat Namibia 6-0, Lesotho 4-0 and lost 3-0 to Zambia.
Malawi girls’ team coach Bridget Chirwa said she was excited with her charges’ overall performance.
“In the final, were up against the defending champions and knew it would not be easy, but we are happy to have made it all the same,”: she said.
