Tabitha Chawinga and Fazili (in background):
Photo Credit - Football Association of Malawi.
Malawi senior women's national football team coach Lovemore Fazili and captain Tabitha Chawinga have said the Scorchers will treat two friendlies against Zambia as competitive matches.
Addressing the press in Lusaka ahead of the matches scheduled for Saturday and Tuesday in Lusaka, the 2023 COSAFA Cup-winning mentor said his team would treat the matches as World Cup and World Cup qualifiers.
"Despite these being friendly matches, we are not taking them as such. These are competitive games for us. There are a lot of things that we will learn from Zambia and they will also learn from us,” he said.
He said Malawi had put behind the 2-0 semifinal loss to their neighbours at the 2024 COSAFA Women’s Championship in South Africa last November.
“The team is still strong. Forget about the COSAFA Cup, we will take them as AFCON or World Cup qualifying matches,” Fazili added. “We lost 2-0 and the quality was very good. We can as well beat Zambia with the new coach but it doesn't mean that this coach is not good. Football is played by players and not coaches.”
Chawinga echoed her coach’s remarks, saying: "To me, it is not a friendly match. Zambians and Malawians are like sisters and brothers so let us see who will be the best. I believe that both sides will give each other a good game. It will be interesting," she said.
The France-based attacker Tabitha has joined in camp her sister Temwa followed by Kazakhstan-based Vanessa Chikupira and Bernadetta Mkandawire.
The two games will take place at Woodlands Stadium in Lusaka as both teams step up preparations for WAFCON qualifiers.
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