Women's Football: Malawi coach downplays friendly loss to Zambia
- Peter Kanjere
- Feb 23
- 1 min read
Malawi coach Lovemore Fazili has downplayed the Scorchers 2-0 loss to Zambia in a warm-up match at Reiz Arena, formerly Woodlands Stadium, in Lusaka on Sunday afternoon.
Fazili said he was looking at the team’s performance and not much about the result.
“It has given us a good test. We know where we went wrong. Results are for every competition but the performance of my players is what matters. We had a grand performance from goalkeeping, defence, midfield and strikers,” he said.
The game was scheduled for Saturday at the same venue but it was suspended after 26 minutes due to bad weather on Saturday afternoon while the Copper Queens led through Avell Chitundu’s goal.
On Sunday, set pieces proved challenging for Lovemore Fazili’s girls as they conceded Rachel Kundananji’s freekick with 11 minutes remaining to full time.
It was a winning start for Zambia’s new Swiss coach Nora Hauptle who replaced Bruce Mwape weeks ago.
Fazili has lost in two consecutive games to the neighbours after a 2-0 defeat in the COSAFA Women’s Championship semifinal in South Africa last November.
The two teams will play their second friendly on Tuesday, February 25, 2025.
The neighbours are using the warm-up matches to prepare for the final qualifying round of the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations. Malawi will face the winner between Zimbabwe and Angola.
