The Scorchers have put their Council for Southern Africa Football Associations title defence on track after beating Madagascar 1-0 yesterday in South Africa.
Versatile athlete Asimenye Simwaka’s goal was enough to rekindle their title defence after settling for a 1-1 draw against Botswana in their Group B opener.
Second-placed Scorchers tie with group leaders Botswana at four points, but trail on an inferior goal aggregate.
The result did not reflect the match as Malawi dominated with menacing attacks, but lacked a killer punch.
They had 15 goal attempts against Madagascar’s nine with nine shots on target against four.
Simwaka, Sabina Thom and Mercy Chinzimu combined well to cause problems in the final third. In the process, they forced 11 corner against three. Madagascar’s first corner kick came after 77 minutes.
However, Madagascar, who were beaten 3-1 by Malawi in the semi-finals last year, occasionally scared Malawi. But resolute and bold defensive prowess kept their opponents at bay.
Malawi scored a second goal in added-on time through Chinzimu, but the goal was ruled out for offside in the build-up.
Tomorrow, Malawi play Mauritius who lost 5-0 to Botswana in another Group B match played earlier.
In a post-match interview, Scorchers coach Lovemore Fazili rued many scoring chances.
He said: “The game was very good and very tough for that matter. We did not expect Madagascar to perform the way they have done today.
“It shows that teams and countries are improving. For us, in the first half we did not play well as expected because in the first 45 minutes, we would have sealed this game.”
Asimenye was named Player of the Match.
