MASERU - Mehalalitoe were booted out of the 2020 COSAFA Women’s Championship when they were overwhelmed by Malawi in a 9-0 victory in their Group B clash on Saturday.

The result ended Lesotho’s involvement in the competition after the Lehloenya Nkhasi led squad went down 8 – 0 against Zambia in an earlier encounter. Malawi star striker Tabitha Chawinga scored a total of six goals as they outclassed the Lesotho side.

China-based Chawinga is making her return to the regional showpiece competition for the first time since 2017 and showed all of her quality to shoot to the top of the scorer's list in this year’s tournament.

The writing was on the wall early for Lesotho as Malawi raced into a 2-0 lead inside five minutes, Zainabu Kapanda getting the opener and Tabitha Chawinga her first.  Sister Temwa Chawinga scored the side’s third, before Tabitha added three more in the first half, including a penalty. She continued in the second half with two more goals, while the other scorer was Asimenye Simwaka.

Hosts South Africa have already sealed their place in the semi-finals as the top team in Group A after overpowering Comoros Islands 7 – 0. On Monday, Botswana walloped Zimbabwe 1 – 0 eliminating them out of Group C. In Group B, Malawi defeated Zambia 1 – 0 while Angola bashed Eswatini 4 – 3, kicking them out of Group A.

On Thursday in the first semifinals match, Botswana takes on Zambia at 12pm while South Africa entertains Malawi at 3.30 pm. A total of 12 matches have been played in the tournament so far and 50 goals were scored in all. The biggest victory was 9-0 by Malawi over Lesotho.