Tabitha Chawinga has left the Malawi squad at the Cosafa Women’s Championship to rejoin Inter Milan, thereby finding a balance of avoiding club versus country feud.
The 26-year-old Inter Milan striker will miss Wednesday’s must-win Group C game for Malawi against champions Tanzania in Port Elizabeth as she flew back to Italy on Tuesday.
The game against Tanzania falls outside FIFA’s international window, hence Chawinga has rejoined Inter Milan squad ahead of their crunch Serie Women’s Premier League game against Juventus on Saturday.
Chawinga said she does not believe her absence would affect the national team in the decisive game against Tanzania.
“I believe in the team that they will defeat Tanzania. Malawi is a very committed team capable of doing well with or without Tabi,” she said.
The Malawian said the Scorchers were able to reach the final of last year’s Cosafa Women’s Championship even when she and her China-based younger sister Temwa were not around.
“Last year, they reached the final without Tabitha and Temwa. I already discussed with the girls before I left for Italy. I urged them to be committed and fight for the nation. The girls have promised me that they will do all it takes in order to qualify for the semifinals,” Chawinga said.
The forward joined Inter Milan last month on a one-year loan from Chinese Women’s Super League team Wuhan Jiangda.
Now, the former DD Sunshine forward should be looking forward to building on the goal she scored on debut the previous week on her debut for Inter Milan as they thrashed Parma FC 4-1.
After the Parma game, Chawinga flew to South Africa to join the Scorches of Malawi squad ahead of their meeting against Botswana on September 2.
She ended up winning the player-of-the-match award in the game that ended one-all.
Chawinga also won a similar award after scoring a hat-trick in the 6-0 rout of Comoros on Monday to take the Scorches to the summit of the group on four points.
