FIFA U-17 WWC: ‘Malawi had bad day against Burundi’ – Nkhoma

Malawi under-17 women’s national team coach Maggie Nkhoma has rued their disjointed performance in the 1-2 loss to Burundi in Lilongwe on Saturday.

The Young Scorchers failed to use home-ground advantage at Bingu National Stadium during the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup qualifier. The result made life difficult for the Malawians going into the second leg.

FT
All to play for in the second leg. pic.twitter.com/PHoeTU7u4B

— FA Malawi (@FaMalawi) April 11, 2026

In a post-match interview with the Malawi FA media, Nkhoma said her charges abandoned the laid game-plan due to pressure, hence the defeat.

“It has been a bad day in my house,” said the coach. “We were playing at home. We had all the advantages. We wanted to win the game, but we were just unlucky that we lost the game.”

What went wrong for Malawi under-17

The Malawi coach highlighted areas of the game the hosts failed to handle against the Burundians, including poor finishing.

“We expected our girls to be disciplined enough in the defensive zone so that we would not concede a goal and to be aggressive when attacking,” Nkhoma added.

“But it has gone the opposite way. We have conceded two goals which has given us a disadvantage because we are going to their home yard.

Can Young Scorchers bounce back in Burundi?

Despite the setback, Nkhoma believes she has enough time to correct the mistakes and bounce back in the second leg.

“We are not giving up,” she added. “We have another chance to go there to fight and win. We want to score more goals so that we should proceed.

“My girls had pressure. We did not play the way we wanted. We did not enjoy the game. Our opponents enjoyed us. They had more possession than us. They created more chances than us.

They used more long balls than us and we were second on the ball. We will go back and polish up so that we can be more aggressive.”

The Young Scorchers will now travel to Burundi next weekend to play the second leg, aware that only a two-goal victory will see them through to the next stage.

The overall winner of the two legs between Malawi and Burundi will advance to the next round to meet either South Sudan or Ethiopia.