Temwa misses Kansas City Current opening fixture

Scorchers forward Temwa Chawinga yesterday missed his club Kansas City Current’s National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) opening fixture against Utah Royals due to an adductor injury she suffered last October. The development confirms fears that the US-based star would not have been available for the rescheduled 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations tournament. Kansas City Current head coach Chris Armas on Friday told ESPN that the two-time reigning National Women’s Soccer League MVP’s return to action remains unclear.

He said: “It is hard because it’s a complicated injury she had. I would love to be able to know myself, even, but I think the best way to do it, which is the most honest, is short-term. Is it the next month where we see [her in] action?

Who knows. But that’s me trying to give you [an answer] that it’s getting closer.” The coach, however, warned of rushing the player into action. He said: “With Temwa, we have to be really intelligent with how we bring her back, in the right doses into training.

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What I can tell you and everyone is that she’s getting closer. She’s not available yet, but she’s getting closer, which means we’re seeing her out on the training pitch these days. It’s such a demanding season for these athletes, especially the demands that she puts into games.

So, as she’s getting close, we still are managing it the right way.” Football Association of Malawi operations director Gomezgani Zakazaka in an interview said the rescheduling of the Wafcon finals was a blessing in disguise. Confederation of African Football postpone the tournament which will be held in Morocco from March to July due to what the continental football governing body described as ‘unforeseen circumstances’ following discussions with partners, including Fifa and other stakeholders. Zakazaka said Temwa would have missed the tournament had it went ahead as planned.

He said: “if her club is not using her, it is obvious that she has not fully recovered from her injury. From the look of things, she was going to miss the tournament.” Temwa, who won the league’s MVP and Golden Boot awards for the past two seasons, injured her adductor in October in the penultimate match of the 2025 regular season. Kansas City won the 2025 National Women’s Soccer League shield with 21 points and Temwa netting 15 goals to defend the golden boot. In 2024, Temwa set the single-season NWSL scoring record when she netted 20 goals in the regular season.

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