Maggie Chombo-Sadik’s Matindi shocked in women’s soccer cup final
Malawi women’s soccer legend Maggie Chombo-Sadik failed to inspire her team Matindi Private Academy to defend the Matindi schools Women’s Football Cup after losing 1-0 to Bangwe based St Pauls Private Secondary School in the final played on Sunday at Surestream Soccer Academy in Blantyre.
Chombo-Sadik, who was hired to coach women’s football at the reputable private secondary institution, did not take the defeat lightly.
She accused St Pauls Secondary School, also coached by renowned women’s football tactician, Thom Kazembe of using non-student players.
“I am not happy that I have lost because we did not play St Paul Secondary but we played a club,” she said without mentioning which club the players play for.
“This defeats the purpose of the competition because it is meant for students.”
Laita Magombo, who scored the only goal of the competition in the 12th minute, also plays for Ntopwa Super Queens, whose sponsor Isaac Jomo Osman, graced the final and celebrated alongside St Pauls.
But her counterpart said they were happy to have won the richest school women’s football competition.
“I am happy to see that my players have done well just on their debut,” Kazembe said.
Matindi Group of Companies official Beatrice Nserebo said although they were impressed with the competition, there were some setbacks in this year’s edition.
“Some schools are not well supported financially. We ask the schools to support the teams so that the students should be exposed to sports. We also encourage schools to avoid cheating. They should only feature students in the games,” Nserebo said.
Nserebo promised that next year’s competition would be more explosive.
National Women’s Football Committee chairperson Severia Chalira hailed the sponsors for playing a part in the development of women’s football talent from the grassroots.
“We have seen a lot of talented players through this competition. We believe we will have a strong national team by next year,” she said.
St Pauls received K500,000 while Matindi Academy received K250,000.
The third placed team Mpondasi CDSS were rewarded with K150,000 with fourth placed St Charles Lwangwa getting K100,000.
Matindi Academy striker Carol Majamanda’s eight goals earned her the top goal scorer award with a reward of K20,000.
St Pauls’goalkeeper Mwayi Kasiya also received K20,000 for being selected player of the match in the final match.
Thirty-two teams32 teams joined this year’s competition in the Southern Region.
The competition is also taking place in the Central Region.
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