By Williams Gondwa in Johannesburg, South Africa
Malawi Under-17 Girls’ National Football Team suffered a 4-2 defeat against hosts South Africa on Thursday morning in their Group B Cosafa Championship opening match at UJ AW Muller Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Malawi Coach Linda Kasenda deployed a 4-4- 2 formation, with Victoria Mkwala, Fatima Lali and Alephar Chimbeta controlling the midfield. Right from the start, Malawi lacked coordination and concentration, allowing South Africa to launch dangerous counterattacks in the first 10 minutes.
The hosts finally broke the deadlock in the 22nd minute through Lednay Kock from Khwezi Khoza’s ball. South Africa then won a penalty after Khoza was pulled down in the penalty area and Katleho Malebana converted to make it 2-0.
The two teams went for recess with the young BanyanaBanyana holding on to the comfortable lead. Malawi went into the second half a changed side, putting their opponents on the back foot.
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The persistent pressure saw the young Scorchers pulling one goal back through substitute Asimenye Mwanyongo just two minutes after resumption. In a move aimed at further strengthening her side, Kasenda introduced Eneles Fabiano and Falina Umali for Mwanyongo and Jean Fyson.
But South Africa woke up from their slumber and netted the third goal through Kock in the 73rd minute. Kock completed her hat-trick three minutes to full time to make it 4-1. But a minute later, Lali scored the second goal for Malawi to end the match 4-2 in South Africa’s favour. Kasenda said her charges failed to control the game due to pressure.
“We were exposed especially in midfield. But these are young girls and some of them have never played at this stage before. We will go back to the drawing board and correct our mistakes. We should do better in the next match,” she said.
Her counterpart Ntombifuthi Khumalo said she was impressed with her players’ performance and believes they would register another victory in the next assignment. Malawi‘s next match is against Madagascar on Sunday while South Africa will face Namibia.
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