How Chawinga sisters’ Malawi stunned WAFCON defending champions, Nigeria 3-2

By Harry Awurumibe,Africa’s No.1 Women Football Journalist
Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) defending champions Nigeria were stunned by the Chawinga sisters, Tabitha and Temwa, as both scored three goals on their debut of the competition to seal Malawi’s stunning 3-2 victory in opening Group C match at Al Madina Stadium in Rabat, Morocco on Tuesday night.

But the result was not a big surprise to ardent women’s football followers in Africa who have followed the Chawinga sisters’ football exploits overseas in the recent time with both plying their trades in the French and United States of America (USA) women’s football leagues respectively.

Temwa, a player of Kansas City Current football club in the National Women’s Super League (NWSL) in USA and Tabitha of Olympique Lyonnais in France helped debutants Malawi produced one of the biggest shocks in the history of women football in Africa when they defeated 10-time champions Nigeria 3-2 on Tuesday.

Prior to the encounter, the Nigeria has never lost a game to a WAFCON debutant since the tournament debuted in Nigeria in 1998 as the West African nation has played 17 games, winning 16 and drawing just one.

But “The Scorchers” of Malawi have now ended that unbeaten streak to dent Nigeria’s record in grand style as they edged Super Falcons in five-goal thriller in the “Battle of Rabat” on Tuesday night.

Despite dominating the match early on and creating several scoring opportunities, the Super Falcons were unable to break the deadlock in a goalless first half.

However, the match came to life in the final twenty minutes when Malawi took the lead in the 73rd minute through Temwa Chawinga, before her sister, Tabitha Chawinga, doubled the advantage six minutes later.

With two goals down, Nigeria’s head coach Justine Madugu made some substitutions but scores remained 2-0 in favour of Malawi until a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) called for a review of a handball by a Malawian defender which was correctly awarded.

Super Falcons captain Rasheedat Ajibade stepped forward to convert the spot kick
to give Nigeria hope in the 90th minute, but Temwa Chawinga struck again deep in stoppage time (90+6’) to restore Malawi’s two-goal cushion.

A goal nine minutes into added time, assisted by a headed ball on the right, by substitute Uchenna Kanu brought the scoreline to 3-2, but time ran out for the Cup-holders to complete the comeback.

It was a match Super Falcons were outplayed and outsmarted by the more purposeful Malawians, with goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie being the worse culprit as she was easily beaten by the Chawinga sisters in the quickfire second half of the match.

Meanwhile, with Barbara Banda-led Zambia pumping six goals past Egypt in the opening match of Group C also earlier on Tuesday, Nigeria will immediately turn their attention to their second Group C fixture against the rampant Zambians on Saturday, where maximum points will be essential to put their qualification drive back on track.