Chawinga sisters spearhead Mozambique thrashing
By Mphatso Malidadi:
Chawinga sisters, Tabitha and Temwa, stole the show as Malawi women’s national football team made an easy meal of neighbours Mozambique in a 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games qualifier at Kamuzu Stadium Thursday.
It was one of those rare moments in Malawi football when fans witnessed their national team scoring 11 goals and at full time, supporters took their time to leave the stadium as they sang and danced in praise of their heroines.
The story was just too good to be true after the men’s senior Flames and the under-23 side disappointed the nation only last month after getting booted out of their respective competitions.
The win gave the She-Flames a commanding lead ahead of the return leg set for Maputo on Tuesday.
Tabitha and Temwa combined with deadly precision to give Malawi a blistering start to the qualifiers.
Victory-starved soccer fans, who watched the match for free, were kept on the edges of their seats with China-based Tabitha’s runs and dribbles that underlined her class and intent.
Tabitha hammered a hat-trick on the glorious day when she opened the scoring and also nailed the final goal.
Temwa was also terrific as she netted five goals whereas another experienced attacker, Linda Kasenda, also got into the act with two goals.
Wezzi Mvula was also not outdone as she scored a goal.
In defence, Towera Vinkhumbo- Nyirenda, a well known netballer, was solid alongside Patricia Nyirenda.
Isabel Jorge scored Mozambique’s consolation.
Malawi Coach, Abel Mkandawire, described the result as amazing.
“This is the perfect start we needed. The girls executed our game plan perfectly. We needed to hit them with speed and we did just that. But we must forget what has happened today and concentrate on the next game,” Mkandawire said.
Mozambique Coach, Claudio Macapa, said revenge was possible in Maputo.
“We knew it would be tough but we did not expect it to be this way. We will try to rectify our problems and come back into the game,” Macapa said.
The overall winner of the two-legged tie will face Kenya in the next round.
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