Malawi Under-17 girls national football team’s fairytale campaign at the Cosafa Under-17 Championship yesterday ended in heartbreak as they succumbed 3-0 to defending champions Zambia at the Hage Geingob Stadium in Windhoek, Namibia.
The Junior Scorchers gave so much hope to the nation going into the final after emerging group winners with a 100 percent record in which they beat Namibia and Comoros before qualifying for the final for the first time after defeating Mozambique 1-0.
In the final, they went on to do everything they could to clinch the championship, but the ruthless and experienced Zambians who have qualified for the Under-17 Fifa Women’s World Cup, showed no mercy as they dismantled Malawi piece by piece in the first-half.
and Malawi’s Jacqueline
Kamputa tussle during
the final. | Courtesy of Cosafa
Zambia captain Ruth Mukoma scored the first goal in the 24th minute, three minutes later Natasha Kasema made it 2-0 and Gift Mazima rounded the score just seconds before half-time.
The quick goals caught Malawi by surprise and coming back into the game proved a challenge.
The defending champions on the other hand pressed for more goals but after half-time, Malawi reorganised themselves and managed to keep the Zambians at bay.
In post-match interviews, Malawi coach Chisomo Nkhoma said things got out of hand the moment they allowed Zambia to dominate the midfield.
She said: “Our midfield did not play the way we wanted. We did not contain them. We did not maintain the ball possession. That’s why the Zambian team dominated from the midfield.
“Now from the second-half, I encouraged my girls to be composed and organise the defence. That’s why we didn’t concede another goal in the second-half.”
However, Nkhoma praised her charges for a battle well-fought in their maiden final.
She said most of her players were new at the tournament and needed to be encouraged for reaching the final.
She said: “First of all, let me congratulate Zambia for being the champions and defending the cup. To my team, it’s just unlucky that today we have failed to achieve what we wanted.
“But all in all, my girls have played their best. They’ve tried and they’ve shown that they can do better. And this has been a better achievement for us, being the first time to be in the final. This is what we wanted.”
On her part, Zambia coach Carol Kanyemba said although they won the match and defended the title, they did not enjoy the final game.
She said: “I feel blessed. It all comes from God, and I’m grateful. I return all the glory unto him. Our strategy was to play this game, use the long balls behind the defence box.
“But Malawi did everything to stop the flow of the game. They delayed it, and they slowed it down. It didn’t flow as much as we expected.
“There are a lot of stoppages in the game, and it’s unfortunate that we only had four added minutes at the end of it. We didn’t really enjoy the game, because it had a lot of stoppages.”
However, Malawi got a consolation as they went away with fair Play Award.
Meanwhile, Mozambique won bronze after defeating Zimbabwe 3-2 in a third place play off.
