The scorchers get full house

The Scorchers have intensified their preparations ahead of tomorrow’s 2028 Los Angeles Olympics second round first leg following the arrival of their key foreign-based players.

Football Association of Malawi (FAM) operations director Gomezgani Zakazaka yesterday confirmed that US-based forward Temwa Chawinga, France-based duo of Tabitha Chawinga and Rose Kabzere as well as Chimwemwe Madise, who plays in the Democratic Republic of Congo, have joined the squad.

However, the Malawi Women’s National Football Team will be without their Sweden-based playmaker Faith Chimzimu due to injury.

He said: “Most of the foreign-based players that were called are in.

“It is Faith Chimzimu who has been ruled out due to an injury, but we expect her to be part of the squad that will travel to Harare for the return match.”

Zakazaka also said another US-based player Asante Khamula of Washington Adventist University, who earned her maiden Scorchers call-up last week, will not join the squad due to logistical issues.

By press time, Scorchers coach Lovemore Fazili could not be reached for an update on the team’s preparations and whether they have made any research on the Mighty Warriors, a side that they have never beaten in their three previous meetings.

But at a press conference where he announced the provisional squad, he said the qualifiers will also help the Scorchers prepare for the 2027 Women’s World Cup.

“We just need to continue from where we left at the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations. We need to win this game with a good performance and we expect a positive result” said Fazili.

On the other hand, Zimbabwe Women’s National Football Team new expatriate coach Stella Gotal last week spoke highly of the Scorchers ahead of the back-to-back qualifiers.

She was quoted by The Herald newspaper heraldonline.co.zw as having said: “We did our research and they [Scorchers] are a very strong side. We have to be tactically disciplined if we are to stop them.

“They are physical, direct and dangerous on set-pieces, so we must match their intensity but keep our own identity.

“As a team, we should understand our individual roles and how best each one of us should give maximum effort in that role to make it teamwork for us to bring results.”

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