08/12/26 02:30:00
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08/12 14:28 CDT Chawinga sisters score in Malawi's 3-1 WAFCON semifinal win
over Algeria
Chawinga sisters score in Malawi's 3-1 WAFCON semifinal win over Algeria
RABAT, Morocco (AP) --- Tabitha Chawinga scored two goals and her sister Temwa
added another to put upstart Malawi in the Women's Africa Cup of Nations
championship match with a 3-1 semifinal victory over Algeria on Wednesday.
Cameroon hosts Morocco in the other semifinal later Wednesday for a chance to
reach Sunday's title match.
The four winners of the quarterfinals booked tickets to next summer's Women's
World Cup. Malawi and Algeria will be playing in the tournament for the first
time.
Malawi, ranked No. 153rd in the world, was playing in its first WAFCON
tournament. Temwa Chawinga scored one goal and set up the other in Malawi's 2-1
quarterfinal win over Ghana to advance.
Algeria was hurt early when Morgane Belkhiter was sent off with a red card
after a foul on Tabitha Chawinga in the 23rd minute.
Tabitha Chawinga, who plays for Lyon in France's top league, gave Malawi the
early lead in the 33rd minute with a strike off her left foot that ricocheted
down off the crossbar and bounced into the goal.
Temwa Chawinga, who plays for the Kansas City Current in the NWSL, logged her
fifth goal of the tournament, dancing around falling Algerian goalkeeper Chloe
N'Gazi and scoring into the open net in first-half stoppage time.
Several moments later, Malawi's Rose Kadzere was handed a red card for a
challenge on Marine Dafeur, putting both teams at 10 players heading into the
second half.
Ikram Adjabi pulled Algeria within a goal in the 60th minute. But Tabitha
Chawinga scored her second goal in the 76th minute, with a shot between an
Algerian defender's legs to give Malawi a 3-1 lead.
Last World Cup hopes
The losers of the quarterfinals can still secure a spot in the Women's World
Cup. Nigeria will play South Africa and Ghana will face Ivory Coast in
Casablanca on Thursday with the winners advancing to an intercontinental
playoff.
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