- As Chawinga sisters inspire debutants into history books
- Dump Algeria 3-1 in semi-final tie
Malawi’s remarkable and fairy-tale debut campaign at the TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2026 continued on Wednesday as the Scorchers defeated The Fennecs of Algeria 3-1 to secure a historic place in the final.
Once again, the Chawinga sisters, Tabitha and Temwa proved decisive, combining for all three goals to give their nation its first-ever WAFCON final ticket.
Quite early in the game, Algeria’s task became significantly difficult when Morgane Belkhiter got a red card, reducing the North Africans to ten players in the first half.
Despite Algeria’s resilience, Malawi eventually found the breakthrough in the 33rd minute through Tabitha Chawinga. The captain produced a moment of brilliance, improvising superbly to direct an acrobatic effort onto the crossbar and into the net for the opening goal.
The Scorchers doubled their advantage moments before the break. Temwa Chawinga showed composure inside the area, rounding the goalkeeper after being played through before calmly slotting into an empty net to give Malawi a commanding 2-0 lead at half-time.
The Malawian Ladies resumed the second half on the front foot and nearly added a third in the 51st minute when Temwa Chawinga burst past three defenders with her trademark pace but was unable to keep her effort on target.
Responding in the 60th minute to reduce the deficit, Algeria’s dangerous free-kick from Marine Dafeur caused problems for the Malawians as Ikram Adjabi reacted quickest to a loose ball and volleyed home to make it 2-1.
With Algeria pushing forward in search of an equaliser, Malawi struck a decisive blow through Tabitha Chawinga. The forward beat her marker before driving a left-footed effort into the net to complete her brace and restore her side’s two-goal cushion.
Algeria continued to battle and almost found a way back into the contest in the 87th minute when substitute Laura Muller rounded the goalkeeper. However, a delayed finish allowed recovering defenders to get back and prevent what looked a certain goal.
With late drama failing to break the deadlock, both sides traded fierce attacks in the dying minutes but their rock-solid, disciplined defending locked down the backlines, ensuring the scoreboard remained unchanged before the final whistle.
As Malawi’s fairytale debut lives on, the decisive 3-1 victory punches their ticket to a historic, first-ever WAFCAF final, putting the debutants just one win away from the ultimate continental crown.
