The Sisters Send Malawi to the Final
Malawi could have stopped emotionally at Ghana.
Nobody would have blamed them.
The World Cup had been secured.
History had been made.
The biggest target anyone could reasonably have attached to Malawi’s first WAFCON campaign was already accomplished.
Then the Scorchers played Algeria.
And decided they wanted more.
Malawi are going to the WAFCON final.
Chaos before control
The semi-final began with intensity and quickly became volatile.
Algeria’s Morgane Belkhiter was sent off in the first half, leaving the North Africans with ten players.
Malawi now had an advantage.
Then came the 33rd minute.
A ball came back off the bar.
Tabitha Chaŵinga reacted.
The Malawi captain produced an athletic finish to make it 1–0.
The sister who opened Malawi’s professional pathway abroad had opened the scoring in Malawi’s first WAFCON semi-final.
Temwa before the break
Malawi struck again just before half-time.
Temwa rounded the goalkeeper.
2–0.
For a few minutes, it looked as though the Scorchers might carry a numerical advantage and two-goal lead into the interval.
Then Rose Kabzere was dismissed.
Ten against ten.
The semi-final changed again.
Algeria make it dangerous
Ikram Adjabi scored for Algeria in the 60th minute.
2–1.
Malawi suddenly had more than half an hour to defend a one-goal lead against a side generating enormous attacking volume.
Algeria eventually attempted 23 shots.
They had roughly 60% possession.
Mercy Sikelo faced nine shots on target.
A different goalkeeper performance and this article could have been about heartbreak.
Instead:
Mercy Sikelo made seven saves.
Seven.
Tabitha ends it
76 minutes.
Tabitha again.
This time a powerful left-footed finish.
3–1.
The captain had scored twice.
Temwa had scored once.
Three Malawi goals.
Three Chaŵinga goals.
It was almost too perfect.
The sisters whose careers had become synonymous with Malawi’s presence in global women’s football had taken their country into its first continental final.
The strange geometry of Malawi’s attack
The Algeria statistics tell us something fascinating.
Algeria had far more possession.
They attempted more shots.
Yet Malawi recorded 32 touches in Algeria’s penalty area, compared with Algeria’s 21 in Malawi’s.
That is Malawi’s tournament in one statistic.
They do not require long periods of territorial control to reach dangerous spaces.
When the Scorchers attack, they attack forward.
They turn turnovers into progress.
They turn space into shots.
They turn shots into goals.
Possession may tell us who had the ball.
Penalty-area touches tell us who made the ball dangerous.
A final on debut
Fazili started:
Mercy Sikelo;
Rose Alufandika, Chimwemwe Madise, Benadetta Mkandawire and Ireen Khumalo;
Chikondi Gondwe and Faith Chinzimu;
Asimenye Simwaka, Rose Kabzere and Tabitha Chaŵinga;
with Temwa leading the attack.
Vanessa Chikupila, Letticia Chinyamula, Madyina Nguluwe and Vitumbiko Mkandawire were all used from the bench.
Then full time arrived.
Algeria 1. Malawi 3.
Five matches into their first WAFCON appearance:
- four wins;
- 12 goals;
- a World Cup place;
- and a continental final.
Malawi had already gone somewhere it had never gone before.
Now there was only one place left to go.
The top.
Match Snapshot
Algeria 1–3 Malawi
Tabitha Chaŵinga 33’
Temwa Chaŵinga 45+1’
Ikram Adjabi 60’
Tabitha Chaŵinga 76’
Possession: Malawi ~40% | Algeria ~60%
Shots: Malawi 17 | Algeria 23
Malawi penalty-area touches: 32
Algeria penalty-area touches: 21
Mercy Sikelo saves: 7
Red cards: Morgane Belkhiter, Algeria; Rose Kabzere, Malawi.
Through the semi-final, Malawi’s five-match record stood at four wins, one defeat, 12 goals scored and seven conceded.
