Malawi forward Tabitha Chawinga has saluted her team-mates for helping her to score six goals in 9-0 whitewash of Lesotho at the Cosafa Women’s Championship in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, on Saturday November 7 2020.
The Jiangsu Suning forward said there was now more fluidity and harmony in attack that contributed to the goals in the group B match.
Tabitha said her team-mates deserved more credit.
“Credit should also go to my team-mates, including Temwa, because defenders were busy marking her thereby leaving space for me to score. Playing upfront alongside her played a great role in my feat. The second goal was special for me because the ball came from my sister and I scored with my right foot when I am a left-footer,” Tabitha said.
“This was my first time to score six goals at the Cosafa tournament and it feels great. I used to score six goals in a single game back in the days when I was playing club football in Malawi and of course, on some occasions, when I was in Sweden but you can’t compare that to this because this is an international tournament.”
Zainab Kapanda put the Scorchers of Malawi ahead as early as the first minute, before the China-based Tabitha took over the show by scoring in the 5th, 22nd, 44th, 48th, 58th and 75th minutes.
Tabitha’s younger sister Temwa also scored in the 11th minute.
Asimenye Simwaka hammered the final nail on the coffin of Lesotho who have now let in 16 goals and failed to score in two games, having lost 8-0 to Barbara Banda-inspired She-polopolo of Zambia during the week.
The compressive win saw Malawi top the group on goal-aggregate while Zambia climbed down to second place.
The Scorchers’ next assignment is against rivals, Zambia, on Monday, November 9 2020.
In other matches, Botswana beat Tanzania 1-0 in a Group C clash courtesy of Thanda Mokgabo’s 53rd minute free-kick.
Hosts South Africa have already qualified for the semi-final from group A.