Ghana and Malawi have already met since arriving in Morocco.
It was 17 days ago.
Ghana won 4-0.
That match completed both teams’ preparations for the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations. Today’s encounter will send one of them to the World Cup.
The winners will advance to the semi-finals and claim one of Africa’s four direct qualifying places at Brazil 2027. For Malawi, it would mean reaching the World Cup during the first WAFCON campaign in their history. Ghana would return 20 years after their last appearance.
The result on 23 July gives the Black Queens reason for confidence, but Malawi’s three subsequent matches have changed how it should be read.
Five days after conceding four goals, Malawi defeated the defending champions.
The friendly Ghana dominated
Malawi head coach Lovemore Fazili had announced that his team would approach the match against Ghana as though the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations had already begun.
The result was a 4-0 defeat.
Doris Boaduwaa scored three goals and Sharon Sampson completed Ghana’s victory. The Black Queens kept a clean sheet and ended their preparations with a performance their federation described as dominant.
It was not Ghana’s first recent victory over the same opponents. The teams had played another friendly the previous year, when the Black Queens won 3-1.
Malawi therefore entered their first Women’s Africa Cup of Nations after losing their two recent meetings with Ghana and conceding seven goals across them.
The response began immediately.
Five days later, Malawi defeated Nigeria
Malawi made their tournament debut against Nigeria.
The Super Falcons were the defending champions and had never lost a Women’s Africa Cup of Nations match against a debutant team.
The game remained goalless until the 73rd minute, when Temwa Chawinga opened the scoring. Tabitha Chawinga added the second six minutes later. Nigeria reduced the deficit from the penalty spot in stoppage time, but Temwa restored Malawi’s two-goal advantage before Uchenna Kanu completed the scoring.
The team that had conceded four goals against Ghana needed only five days to put three past Nigeria.
Fazili later explained that Malawi had focused part of their work on finishing after the friendly. Against the champions, the Chawinga sisters turned that work into goals and their country’s tournament debut into a historic victory.
Malawi followed that result by defeating Egypt 3-1. Rose Kadzere, Faith Chinzimu and Temwa scored the goals in their second consecutive win.
The group stage ended with a 2-1 defeat by Zambia, but Tabitha’s goal proved crucial to Malawi retaining first place. Malawi, Zambia and Nigeria all finished with six points, and the head-to-head tiebreakers between the three teams placed the debutants at the top of Group C.
Five of Malawi’s seven goals have come from the Chawinga sisters
Malawi have scored seven goals in their three matches.
Temwa and Tabitha Chawinga have contributed five of them.
Temwa has scored three: twice against Nigeria and once against Egypt. Tabitha scored once against the champions and again in the defeat by Zambia.
Malawi have also demonstrated their ability to transform matches during the second half. Five of their seven goals arrived from the 68th minute onwards, including all three against Nigeria from the 73rd.
That attacking threat has been accompanied by a weakness: Malawi are yet to keep a clean sheet. They have scored and conceded in all three matches, with seven goals for and five against.
Ghana present a very different record.
The Black Queens began with a 2-0 victory over Cape Verde, through a Boaduwaa goal and an own goal. They then lost 1-0 to Cameroon before Evelyn Badu earned them a 1-1 draw with Mali.
Ghana finished second in Group D with four points. They have scored three goals and conceded two, while Malawi arrive with more than twice as many goals and a less secure defence.
The friendly showed that Ghana can contain and punish the Chawinga sisters. The group stage made clear that another 4-0 victory cannot be taken for granted.
Ghana can return to the World Cup after 20 years
Ghana have been to the World Cup before.
They appeared at three consecutive editions: 1999, 2003 and 2007. They have not returned since.
Victory today would qualify the Black Queens for their fourth World Cup, exactly 20 years after their previous appearance. It would also take them into the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations semi-finals for the eighth time.
Ghana arrive after finishing third at the previous edition. All three of their matches following the group stage were decided by penalty shootouts: they overcame Algeria in the quarter-finals, lost to Morocco in the semi-finals and defeated South Africa in the third-place play-off.
Malawi have no comparable experience.
They are only the second debutants to reach the quarter-finals since the round was introduced in 2022. Botswana were the only previous team to do so and were eliminated by Morocco four years ago.
Victory would make Malawi the first debutants to reach the semi-finals since Zimbabwe in 2000. It would also secure a World Cup place during their first WAFCON campaign.
A direct place and another possible route
The winners of Malawi v Ghana will qualify directly for the 2027 World Cup in Brazil.
They will also face Algeria in Wednesday’s semi-final. The Algerians secured the first World Cup qualification in their history yesterday by defeating Ivory Coast 2-1.
The losing team will be eliminated from the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations but retain a second opportunity to reach the World Cup.
They will face Ivory Coast on Thursday 13 August. The winners of that match will claim one of Africa’s two places in the FIFA Play-Off Tournament.
Malawi can reach their first World Cup by defeating a team that scored four goals against them 17 days ago. Ghana can return after 20 years by recording a third consecutive victory over the same opponents.
The friendly established a four-goal gap.
The quarter-final will reveal how much of it remains.
Malawi v Ghana kick-off time and where to watch
Malawi and Ghana will play today, Sunday 9 August, at 21:00 both locally and in the United Kingdom — 22:00 in mainland Spain — at the Al Madina Stadium in Rabat.
The match will be available to watch for free in Spain and Latin America through CAF’s YouTube channel.
