Chawinga sisters fire Malawi into Wafcon final

OL Lyonnes striker Tabitha Chawinga (left) scored two goals to lead her team into the Wafcon final on their tournament debut [BackPage Pix] Malawi's Chawinga sisters were once again the stars of the show, sharing three goals as the Scorchers continued their fairy tale run at the 2026 Women's Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) by booking their place in the final with a 3-1 victory over Algeria in Rabat. Belying their status as the lowest-ranked side playing in Morocco, the Southern Africans, who are making their Wafcon debut, were too strong for their opponents, adding Les Fennecs to their list of scalps having already defeated heavyweights Nigeria and Ghana earlier in the tournament. But the scoreline failed to tell half the story of a frantic, end-to-end encounter which featured two first-half red cards awarded after the intervention of the video assistant referee (VAR) and a slew of presentable opportunities which were spurned by both sides. Algeria defender Morgane Belkhiter had already seen red for denying Malawi skipper Tabitha Chawinga a goalscoring opportunity before the older of the two sisters broke the deadlock in the 33rd minute, executing an acrobatic overhead kick which cannoned off the crossbar, hit the turf and spun extravagantly over the goal line. Temwa Chawinga extended the lead in the first minute of first-half added time before her team-mate Rose Kadzere was also dismissed before the break following another extended VAR check, this time for a studs-up lunge. The second half was only marginally more sedate, with Ikram Adjabi initially giving Algeria hope before Tabitha Chawinga's second goal snuffed out any chance of a comeback. The Scorchers will face either hosts Morocco or Cameroon in Sunday's final (19:00 GMT), looking to become the fourth nation to lift the Wafcon trophy and complete what would be a remarkable underdog story.