Chawinga Sisters Power Malawi Into WAFCON Final With 3-1 Win

Tabitha Chawinga scored two goals and her sister Temwa added another as Malawi stunned Algeria 3-1 in the Women's Africa Cup of Nations semifinal on Wednesday in Rabat, Morocco, sending the tournament debutants into the championship match.

Cameroon and Morocco were set to meet later Wednesday in the other semifinal for the right to face Malawi on Sunday.

All four quarterfinal winners, including Malawi and Algeria, secured berths in next summer's Women's World Cup — the first appearance in the tournament for either country.

Malawi, ranked 153rd in the world, entered its first WAFCON with Temwa Chawinga already a star of the run, having scored and set up a goal in a 2-1 quarterfinal win over Ghana.

Algeria was reduced to 10 players early when Morgane Belkhiter was sent off in the 23rd minute for a foul on Tabitha Chawinga. Ten minutes later, Tabitha Chawinga put Malawi ahead with a left-footed strike that ricocheted off the crossbar and into the net.

Temwa Chawinga, who plays for the Kansas City Current in the NWSL, doubled the lead in first-half stoppage time, dancing past a falling Algerian goalkeeper, Chloe N'Gazi, before slotting into an open net. It was her fifth goal of the tournament.

Moments later, Malawi's Rose Kadzere was also sent off for a challenge on Marine Dafeur, leaving both teams with 10 players for the second half.

Ikram Adjabi cut the deficit to one goal for Algeria in the 60th minute, but Tabitha Chawinga, who plays for Lyon in France's top league, restored Malawi's two-goal cushion in the 76th minute with a shot that went through an Algerian defender's legs.

Algeria's quarterfinal-round losers still have a path to the World Cup. Nigeria plays South Africa and Ghana faces Ivory Coast on Thursday in Casablanca, with the winners advancing to an intercontinental playoff.