Zambia Under-17 Women defeated Malawi 3-0 in Namibia on Saturday to win the COSAFA Championship.

Zambia started the tournament as defending champions and did the job after knocking out the Malawi team which had an impressive start—winning all three games without conceding.

Malawi coach Chisomo Nkhoma wanted to make a record by beating the Carol Kanyemba side but it was not possible.

Nkhoma said it wasn’t a difficult game, but lacked concentration at the midfield hence losing crucial balls to Zambia.

“Zambia won balls at the midfield and we were under pressure. I encouraged them at half and second half we were in the game, we won balls and we were well organised at the back but it was too late,” said Nkhoma.  

She said her girls were under pressure that they were in the final since it was their first time to reach that far.

“Otherwise I should thank them for a great performance at this tournament. It shows that in Malawi we have good players and if given a chance we can do better. We need to have proper leagues back home like U14 and U16 where we can find players to help. The Football Association of Malawi (FAM) should focus on these leagues,” she said.

Despite finishing as runners up, Malawi won the fair play team award of the tournament.

Heading into the final, Malawi scored 10 goals without conceding. They stopped Comoros 6-0 before beating host Namibia 3-0 and faced Mozambique in the semis in which Malawi was victorious 1-0. 

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