Debutants Malawi pulled off the biggest upset in this year’s Women’s African Cup of Nations (WAFCON) after edging out defending champions Nigeria’s Super Falcons in Group C on Tuesday, completesports.com reports.
Sisters Tabitha and Temwa Chawinga got the three goals for Malawi while Rasheedat Ajibade and Uchenna Kanu were on target for the Super Falcons.
The defeat leaves the Super Falcons in a difficult situation as they must now beat Zambia in their second game on Saturday, August 1, to stand a chance of progressing from the group stage.
As for Malawi, a win against Egypt will secure qualification into the knockout round.
In the group’s first game earlier on Tuesday, Zambia hammered Egypt 6-0 with Barbara Banda scoring four goals.
Malawi went close early in the game but Tosin Demehin made a vital block for a corner kick.
The Super Falcons went close on 18 minutes but Esther Okoronkwo’s header was well saved by the keeper.
Ajibade almost opened the scoring on 28 minutes but saw her header from Okoronkwo’s corner stopped by the keeper.
Also Read: WAFCON 2026: Chawinga Confident Malawi Can Challenge Super Falcons
With 10 minutes left in the first half Chiamaka Nnadozie had to stretch to stop a danger cross from connecting to a Malawian player.
The Super Falcons went close on 49 minutes as Ajibade hit a low shot which was well saved.
But it was Malawi who took the lead in the 69th minute as Temwa beat the offside trap, rounded Nnadozie and slotted into an empty net.
The Super Falcons went in search of the equaliser but could not breach a well organised Malawi backline.
With 10 minutes left Tabitha made it 2-0 after racing to a long pass and slotted the ball under Nnadozie.
Ajibade pulled a goal back for the Super Falcons on 92 minutes from the penalty spot after Kanu’s goal-bound header was stopped by a Malawian player using her hand.
But Malawi restored their two-goal advantage as Temwa got her second goal to put her side 3-1 up on 95 minutes, lobbing Nnadozie who had rushed out of her goal area.
Then in the 99th minute Kanu was quickest to a knock down header before slotting into the net to make it 3-2.
By James Agberebi
17 Comments
So if Nnadozie had not rushed out to buy loiloi abi na akamu, the score line would have been a 2-2 draw.
I no know who send am message. She rushed out, and now we are about to rush out of the competition and the world cup.
Very very poor from the Super Falcons today. I’m flabbergasted.
Playing like this, there is no chance against Zambia. To get a result against Banda and co, they simply must do better.
We had more possession, created more chances, but failed to convert. And when you fail to convert, you are courting disaster.
We are also hearing that bonuses from the last Wafcon are yet to be paid! Of course, this will affect the players. If we fail to qualify for the world cup, this NFF would have the honor of finally putting Nigerian football to sleep. Back to back failure to qualify for men’s world cup, and the icing on the cake will be failure to qualify for the women’s world cup.
Let us see what will happen in the upcoming NFF elections!
I hope they do realize that the 4 semi finalists qulify for the World Cup next year….We can’t afford to miss that.
Never underrate any Southern African female team…. They all play their club football in South Africa.
True talk. In fact, never underrate any team. Pride goes before a fall.
We are out.
Zambia and Malawi ONLY NEED TO WIN ONE MORE GAME EACH.
Malawi can do that against Egypt.
Zambia only need to beat Malawi ASSUMING THEY LOSE to us.
Head to head will mean Zambia topples Malawi and
Nigeria, even with 6 points CAN NEVER OVERTAKE Malawi.
Yes, some people’s “flair” coach may have BECOME THE FIRST ONE to NOT QUALIFY US FOR THE FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP.
I congratulate all of them including Gusau for CREATING THIS UNWANTED HISTORY.
Never say never!Remember this!!
The super falcons team has not grown since waldrum left.
This is a far departure from the tactically compact and purposeful team Waldrum built.
We’ve been wobbling, fumbling and relying on our big names, vibes and Insha Allah since day 1 under madugu.
I was called a hater when I said him winning the last Awcon doesn’t convince me of his technical proficiency.
Like his fellow local coaches, he gets exposed once he meets an averagely tactically decent team which a few technically good players.
And what about the overall attitude of the team going into this tournament…..? Poor and Unserious. And it all showed in this game.
I said what I said.
My view too.
Randy Waldrum deserves credit for building much of this team. He held camps abroad, scouted aggressively, discovered new talents, and, above all, was tactically sound. He also had the courage to challenge the NFF when necessary before the 2023 World Cup.
Madugu hasn’t shown any of that. He coaches like a typical local manager: limited scouting network, little tactical flexibility, and too comfortable with the status quo. Under him, the Falcons concede goals far too easily, yet there seems to be no solution.
Even if he wins this WAFCON, I still don’t see him leading Nigeria to anything significant at the World Cup.
This girls are playing Shakira too much,
Football is not afrobeat,
It’s a social military campaign,
They thought they can just go past all teams like that bcoz they are good, they need to be serious.
The coach need to respect his opponents too,
He doesn’t need to play players out of position, alozzie have no business in the left back, he have a natural left back and if he must play Oladipo he should play her as left back and allow alozzie keep her right back.
Ayinde is old what is she starting for. Uchebe, abiodun and Jennifer should be his permanent midfield, changes should be between paign and ayinde when time has gone.
Play ajibade, okorokwo and kanu in ur attack. Babajide, ihezuo and oshuola can be substitutes.
It’s very important to play abiodun and Christi uchebe in the holding midfield, that will create balance in diffence too.
I blame nadozie overconfidence,
Ajibade unseriosness, alozzie’s oversabi, Oladipo nervousness,
Okorokwo laziness, ayinde tiredness due to age, echiegine late decisions and unnecessary dribbling attempts.
If we fail to beat Zambia we are out of the world Cup.
A draw will not be enough
I am smelling a surprise World Cup miss.
I pray we beat Zambia
These Falcons are very badly coached! the worst coach in the world, collecting money to pick old cargo players like Ordega and NFF Officials trying to chop some players. The only team the Super Falcons coach handled in Nigeria were relegated! That’s the coach we have. It is a racket! Coach has 15 slots in the team and NFF has the rest of the players as their slot. That’s why they sacked Randy Waldrum, the Oyebo coach that blocked all the slot rubbish. This team will not qualify for the world cup.
We are too quick to blame our local coaches when our teams falter, thinking foreign coaches are super and flawless! Yet this same Madugu beat all comers including WAFCON squads coached by so-called elite European Coaches only last year.
Same “Home base Coach” won the WAFCON tournament a year ago in same Morocco pitch, beating a Spanish world cup winning Coach of Morocco to the title in the final match. Same home based coach won the “Women’s African Coach of the Tournament and of the year award, about 7 months ago, beating the likes of Spanish Moroccan coach; thrashing Swedish Zambian Coach on the way to completion of “Mission X” only a year ago! Perhaps some of the blame should go to lacklustre SF players- who came with too much arrogance and underated a very fit and agile Malawian girls compared to the aging SF team, the later thinking they only need to turn up and victory is assured.
Not that Coach Madugu does not deserve some blame, especially with the selection of the squad- relying on old, unfit players, instead of injecting many players from the U-20 Falconets squad, especially the likes of the burstling, very fit 18- year old striker Janet, now with Benfica feminine in Portugal. Even an injection of younger blood from the last U-17 girls with more energy to mix with the experienced older girls in SF will not be a bad idea!
Bottom line is that younger bloods need to be injected into the SF squad to mix up with the older, more experienced women. The African game is becoming too physical and pacier for the likes of Ordega, Oshoala and the Ohales.
Hahahaha……same home based coach has been humbled by a Malawian coach leading a debutant Malawian team……LMAOoooo.
That is the difference
Malawi could easily have spanked us 5-0 last night…..LMAOoo. Despite having a goal ruled out they still put 3 past us……LMAOooo
Tell your madugu to go and defeat the same Spanish world cup winning coach when he’s coaching the Spanish national team….lets check something.
Don’t worry….. maybe your senses will return when we have been booted out of the women’s world cup the same way we were booted out of the men’s world cup due to the coaches’ tactical bankruptcy. Continue hyping mediocrity ehn…… LMAOoo
Don’t like responding to an empty barreled skull that self-styles himself fake “Dr” with no brain for cognitive reasoning blinded by hatred and bitterness of anything sounding like indigenous Nigerian coaches.
At the last WAFCON, which ended less than a calendar year ago, Falcons Coach, Madugu, won the coach of the tournament award beating over 5 “foreign” Coaches of the qualified African women teams to the title, including World cup winning Spanish Coach, elite Swedish coaches of Zambia, Ghana and more to the title!
Madugu also won the Women football African coach of the year award just over 6 months ago, and was 3rd placed in World Women Coach of the year 2025 award.
A “prophet is without honour” except by foul, sournounted “home negativity spinners, like the fake “Dr.”
Btw, I hope you are now one-handed after shipping your right hand to SE coach, who you run down endlessly till he threw all your fake analysis, put-downess and name-calling to the trash can at the last 2025/26
Your madugu who won 5 foreign coaches and won the coach of the year award has just been humbled by a nameless Malawian coach, coaching a debutant Malawian team……… LMAOOO. Dumb idiot, open your brains, Madugu is only getting by with the star power he has at his disposal. He has never won anything in the local league throughout his career….. LMAOooo. Obviously he doesn’t have a plethora of Europe based professionals to play for him and bail him out in the league…..LMAOoo. The last local club he coached was relegated.
Tell him to go and defeat those foreign coaches when they are coaching their home countries……not when they are coaching countries without a fully functional professional league……LMAOoo.
Maybe when we fail to qualify for another world cup, those who stole your brain and eyes from you will return them.
In the words of our elders, When you celebrate mediocrity, you get more of it……LMAOoo.
Awọn Nigerian coaches are better than south African coaches gang…..Ode.
Guys, its just tye 1st game of d tournament and we are already saying the team is out. Na wa ooo. South Africa lost dia 1st game as well and d world hasn’t ended. I do understand people’s apprehension and the importance of getting a result in your 1st game, however i believe the team will continue getting better as the tournament progresses. Same way d team was written off when they could only manage late goal against Bostwana, goalless against Algeria, then came Zambia where people were saying how Zambia was going to humiliate d SF bcos of Banda, the SF eventually gave them a good spanking on dat day. Where i fault d coach is the fact that he us still over relying of very old players like Ohale, Ordega, Assisat, Payne. We have 2 amazing young wingers in the flamingo team with speed and trickery that will give teams serious headache. We still have Janet from d current U20 Falconets. There is Florence Sabatine and even Onyenize (solid midfielder that played alongside Abiodun during their U20 days), even the former U20 captain with a wicket leftfoot (i 4get her name). These are the players Madugu should have invited to add bite to d team. The current team is past their prime with d exception of a few. That being said, i still tip the SF to book a ticket to the worldcup. Who says Egypt will lose to Malawi? Football is not 1+1=2. Same Zambia may draw will Malawi. The group is still very open in my view. We just need to support d team. Nnafozie most here are criticizing has saved the SF blushes on so many occasions but now we r saying she is overweight. Anyway, personally i wish the SF continued growth and success as they progress through the tournament. A loss in not d end of d world, regroup, play with purpose and let d cards fall where they will. 10 times champions no be epa. Good luck SF.
In football you are as good as your last game…However,well said brother!
Bro, let’s be honest, Madugu isn’t a good coach. Did you watch that match? We were thoroughly outplayed in the second half. That wasn’t the Super Falcons we’ve known over the years. We were disjointed, lacked structure, could barely complete three passes, created next to nothing in attack, and even Nnadozie looked completely unlike herself.
I’ve followed the Super Falcons for 31 years. I haven’t missed a World Cup or WAFCON match since they demolished South Africa 4–0 in Ibadan in 1995. So this isn’t a knee-jerk reaction after one defeat. I know what a properly coached Falcons side looks like.
Yes, the NFF deserves plenty of blame for their usual chaotic preparation. But poor preparation doesn’t excuse poor coaching. Before the 2023 World Cup, Waldrum practically begged for friendly matches in the weeks leading to the tournament. He got none. In fact, Baba publicly questioned what happeed to the FIFA preparation funds, creating that bad blood between him and the NFF. But did that affect his team’s performance? Nope! He still produced a team that went toe-to-toe with England. Even in defeat, nobody questioned his tactics. That was arguably the best performance by an African team at a Women’s World Cup in history.
Can we honestly say the same after this Malawi game? Since Madugu took over, we’ve been conceding goals like our defence is running a charity organization. And let’s stop pretending the last WAFCON was a tactical masterclass. It wasn’t. We struggled against Algeria and Botswana, edged past Zambia convincingly anyways but laboured against South Africa, then needed an incredible comeback against Morocco. Coming back from 2–0 down in a final was remarkable, but let’s not pretend that happens every day. You can’t be tempting football gods every tournament and expect them not to collect their debt one day.
Then the team selection… that’s where I completely lost him.
Why on earth would you bench Christy Ucheibe and Deborah Abiodun against a Malawi team whose forwards looked like they were powered by diesel engines? Some of those Malawian ladies have testosterone levels higher than that of many men. You needed steel, physicality and bite in midfield, and your two best enforcers were on the bench. Throughout the game, Bro, those Malawian attacking beasts bullied our defence with pace, power, and aggression, giving them absolutely no breathing space, while Madugu sat on the touchline with no meaningful tactical response. That’s simply unacceptable.
Honestly, I’m not convinced that coach watched a single Malawi match before this game. If he did, then some of those decisions are even harder to explain. It’s becoming obvious that his team struggles whenever they face physically imposing opponents who sit deep and stay compact. That’s exactly why we laboured against Botswana and Algeria at the last WAFCON. We only started looking convincing from the knockout stage, beginning with Zambia, when our opponents had to come out, chase the game, and leave spaces for us to exploit.
Nigeria has far too much talent to be playing football that looks this confused. The players deserve better. So do the fans.