Tabitha narrowly misses Asian Tourney golden boot

Malawian women’s football icon Tabitha Chawinga missed the inaugural Asian Women’s Club Championship Golden Boot Award by a whisker after finishing second.

Chawinga scored three goals, just a goal shy of top scorer Mina Tanaka of Nippon TV Beleza.

“It was just tough luck, otherwise I could have scored more goals in our opening game in which I missed some good chances. But it is part of the game,” she said in an interview yesterday.

Chawinga’s Chinese club Jiangsu Suning also finished second in the four-team tournament which attracted champions from Australia, China, hosts South Korea and Japan.

However, she was on target in all the three matches for Jiangsu Suning, scoring all their goals.

Chawinga scored a brace as her team defeated Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels 2-0 on Sunday.

But she could not inspire Jiangsu’s first win against Melbourne Victory as they were held to a 1-1 draw by the Australian giants at Yongin Citizen Park Stadium on Thursday.

She also scored the tournament’s opening goal when her team was held to a one-all draw by Japanese outfit Nippon TV Beleza

According to www.goal.com, against the hosts, Chawinga was eager to ensure her team ended their campaign on a high and she made no mistake in firing Jocelyn Precheur’s side in front 10 minutes into the contest.

Despite a second-half fightback from the Red Angels, Chawinga found a breakthrough to double the lead five minutes after the restart to guarantee her Chinese side’s second-place finish.

The 23-year-old forward, who made history scoring the first goal of the inaugural Asian club tournament, has now ended 2019, by scoring 38 goals in 30 matches for the Chinese champions.

For Jiangsu, they finished second with five points from three matches—two behind winners Nippon TV Beleza of Japan with seven points following a 5-0 triumph over Melbourne Victory.

Despite missing out on the title, Chawinga and Addo will take consolation in their silver-medal win on their maiden AFC Women’s Club Championship outing on the Asian continent.