The Malawi National Women’s Football Team, the Scorchers, will be looking to complete the job when they face Zimbabwe in the return leg of the second preliminary round of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games qualifiers on Tuesday.
The Scorchers head into the encounter carrying a 2-0 advantage following their victory in the first leg at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe on Friday.
Sisters Temwa and Tabitha Chawinga scored in either half to give Malawi a comfortable advantage heading into the decisive away fixture. Head coach Lovemore Fazili says his charges are ready for the encounter and are determined to secure another victory despite already holding a two-goal advantage.
“We are ready for tomorrow’s game. The players know the importance of the match,” said Fazili. “We have been preparing the players mentally and physically, and I am sure there is nothing that can let us down. We are going into the match with the mindset of winning.”
The Scorchers will be aiming to build on their impressive performance in the first leg, where they dominated proceedings and created several scoring opportunities. Fazili, however, is aware that Zimbabwe will be looking to capitalise on home advantage as they attempt to overturn the deficit.
The coach believes his players have enough experience to handle the pressure of playing away from home, particularly in front of a large home crowd.
“Home support is always huge, but I think the Scorchers players are aware of that situation,” he said. “They have experienced it before and have played in such environments, so I don’t think home support will be a challenge for them.”
Malawi will also be banking on the experience and confidence gained from their historic performance at the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, where they finished as runners-up and qualified for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Fazili has also called on Malawians to continue supporting the team as they seek to take another step towards Olympic qualification.
“We always think about our supporters and want to give them positive results. We ask them to continue supporting us wherever they are. I know there are also Malawians here who will be cheering for us,” he said.
The Scorchers need to protect their two-goal advantage to progress to the next round, while Zimbabwe must overturn the deficit to keep their qualification hopes alive.
The winner of the two-legged tie will face the winner between Kenya and Seychelles in the next round of the qualifiers.
