Malawi National Women’s Football Team opened their HollywoodBets Cosafa Women’s Championship defence with a scrappy 1-1 stalemate against Botswana at Isaac Wolfson Stadium in Gqeberha, South Africa, Wednesday.
The result leaves Malawi needing to win their next two matches if they are to be assured of advancing to the semifinals.
Madagascar lead Malawi’s Group B with three points after beating Mauritius 5-1 in an earlier match.
The Scorchers’ next game is on Saturday against Madagascar while Botswana will be playing Mauritius.
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Against Botswana, Malawi Coach Lovemore Fazili started with attacker Carolyn Mathyola and Rwanda-based forward Mary Chavinda as he plotted to score an early goal but the two lacked coordination to cause any problems to their opponents’ defence.
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On two good occasions, Malawi’s Asimenye Simwaka would have opened the scores but Botswana captain and goalkeeper Sedilame Boseja kept her at bay.
The game continued to look promising for Malawi who dominated play with long balls and eventually got a goal through player of the match Faith Chimzimu.
The Ascent Academy star connected a deflection by a Botswana defender following a hard-hit corner kick taken by Mary Chavinda 28 minutes into the game.
But Botswana equalized five minutes to the break with a team goal started by Keitumetse Dithebe who passed the ball to Lesego Radiakanyo who set up Laone Moloi to convert.
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Fazili said the girls are yet to hit top form.
“This has been a slow start to our title defence. I would not say I am disappointed with the result because we played a much better side that brought its star players. So considering that we had a local squad, I would say I am happy with the way my players performed.
“Bu we have to beat Madagascar at least by five goals and even score more when we play Mauritius. My hope is that we will improve in our next matches,” he said.
Botswana coach Alex Malete hailed his team for earning a point against Malawi.
“We played better and kept possession. We pressed them hard and getting a point in this match is not bad. We will try to improve in some areas as we look forward to our next match,” Malete said
During the match, Fazili rested Vanessa Chikupira and Mary Chavinda for Chisoko Banda and Catherine Kachala in the second half but the move did not pay any dividend as Botswana enjoyed more possession than Malawi.
The Malawi coach later introduced Sarah Mlimbika for Carolyn Mathyola in the 70th minute but nothing changed.
Meanwhile, Democratic Republic of Congo-based forward Sabina Thom, who plays for TP Mazembe’s Women’s side, was expected to bolster the Malawi team last night.
