Zambia, Tanzania Seal Final Spots in 2020 Cosafa Women's Under-17 Championships
Zambia and East African guest nation Tanzania have booked their place in Saturday's final of the 2020 COSAFA Women's Under-17 Championships, sealing qualification with one round of matches still to play.
The pair have nine points at the top of the five-team pool and cannot be caught, which means hosts South Africa, Zimbabwe and Comoros will play their final games of the tournament on Thursday.
Zambia sealed their spot with a comprehensive 3-0 success over the Comoros, with much of the damage done in the first half.
Comfort Selemani headed them ahead from a corner as they put pressure on the islanders' goal, before the lead was doubled just before halftime.
Zambia were handed a spot-kick and Tisilile Lungu scored at the third attempt after Comoros goalkeeper Said Amina saved the initial penalty, and then again from the rebound, but the Lungu was able to finally bury the chance as the defence proved too sluggish to clear the danger.
The points were sealed just past the hour-mark when Bupe Banda netted her first goal of the tournament with a looping shot from the edge of the box that nestled in the corner of the net.
Tanzania made light work of Zimbabwe, racing into a 5-0 lead inside 31 minutes and never looking back, claiming a 10-1 success in the end.
Protasia Mbunda profited from a goalkeeping error to give her side the lead in the opening minute, before tournament leading scorer Aisha Masaka turned provider for Koku Kipanga.
Irene Kisisa, Shehat Mohamedi and Ester Gindulya all added further goals before the break.
The second half was less frantic as the rain started to pelt down and broke up the rhythm of the play.
But Zawadi Athuman, Mohamedi, Neema Shibara (two) and tournament leading scorer Aisha Masaka, who netted her ninth goal of the campaign, did add further damage for the Tanzanians.
Zimbabwe were able to get a consolation through Rudo Machadu as she bundled the ball home when a free-kick was only parried into her path.
The final round of pool fixtures will be played on Thursday with nothing but pride to play for.
South Africa will look to finish their disappointing campaign on a high when they tackle Comoros Islands (12h30), having only won one of their three matches to date. It would also ensure the consolation of third place.
Zambia have already ensured they will finish top of the pool with a superior head-to-head record against Tanzania, so can afford to rotate some players against Zimbabwe (kick-off 15h30).
That might well be the case with the final just two days later and the need for fresh legs against the impressive Tanzanians.
Also being played on Thursday are the semifinals of the COSAFA Women's Championship with two potentially epic clashes in store.
Botswana are appearing at this stage of the competition for the second time running and will take on Zambia in the first game (12h30).
It is a repeat of the 2019 semifinal where Zambia ran out handsome 4-0 winners, but The Mares will believe they have improved markedly since that game and will be confident of a much closer tie.
Olympics-bound Zambia have powerhouse forward Barbra Banda in their side though and unless Botswana can get to grips with her, it could be a long afternoon.
Defending champions South Africa also face a huge challenge in the form of Malawi (15h30) and in particular the Chawinga sisters, Tabitha and Temwa, who have already proven two quality performers in this competition.
South Africa have yet to concede a goal in their three games to date, but like Botswana will have to be sharp in defence if they are to maintain that record.
Malawi are appearing in the semifinals for the first time since 2011 ... when they were beaten 5-1 by South Africa.
No fans will be allowed access into the stadiums, but the senior championship matches will be broadcast LIVE on SuperSport's Variety4 in South Africa, and Variety 4 Africa and Go Select 2, as well as being streamed LIVE on www.cosafa.tv. The Under-17 games will also be on COSAFA.TV.
COSAFA WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP STATISTICS
THURSDAY'S FIXTURES
Semifinals
12h00 (10h00 GMT) - Botswana vs Zambia
15h30 (13h30 GMT) - South Africa vs Malawi
STANDINGS
GROUP A P W D L GF GA GD PTS
South Africa (Q) 3 3 0 0 14 0 17 9
Angola 3 1 1 1 5 6 -1 4
Eswatini 3 1 0 2 7 11 -4 3
Comoros Islands 3 0 1 2 3 12 -9 1
*In order to calculate the best-placed runner-up, the matches involving last-placed Comoros Islands were discarded. So the standings are therefore: South Africa - 6 pts, +7; Angola - 3 pts, -1; Eswatini - 0 pts, -6
GROUP B P W D L GF GA GD PTS
Malawi (Q) 2 2 0 0 10 0 10 6
Zambia (Q) 2 1 0 2 8 1 7 3
Lesotho 2 0 0 2 0 17 -17 0
GROUP C P W D L GF GA GD PTS
Botswana (Q) 2 2 0 0 2 0 2 6
Tanzania 2 1 0 1 1 1 0 3
Zimbabwe 2 0 0 2 0 2 -2 0
TOURNAMENT STATS
Matches Played: 12
Goals scored: 50
Biggest victory: Malawi 9 Lesotho 0 (Group B, November 7)
Most goals in a game: 9 - Malawi 9 Lesotho 0 (Group B, November 7)
GOALSCORERS
6 goals - Tabitha Chawinga (Malawi), Sibulele Holweni (South Africa)
3 - Barbra Banda (Zambia), Cristina Makua (Angola), Tenanile Ngcamphalala (Eswatini)
2 - Grace Chanda (Zambia), Temwa Chawinga (Malawi), Phumzile Dlamini (Eswatini), Nomvula Kgoale (South Africa), Gabriela Salgado (South Africa)
1 - Ana Afonso (Angola), Beatriz Augusto (Angola), Prisca Chilufya (Zambia), Karabo Dlamini (South Africa), Anllaouia Hadhirami Ali (Comoros Islands), Zaharouna Haoudadji (Comoros Islands), Abdourahmane Hairyat (Comoros Islands), Zainabu Kapanda (Malawi), Ireen Lungu (Zambia), Hilda Magaia (South Africa), Lonathemba Mhlongo (South Africa), Thanda Mokgabo (Botswana), Nonhlanhla Mthandi (South Africa), Maylan Mulenga (Zambia), Celiwe Nkambule (Eswatini), Mokgale Nonjabuliso (Eswatini), Kadosho Shekigenda (Tanzania), Asimenye Simwaka (Malawi), Tebogo Tholekele (Botswana)
COSAFA WOMEN'S UNDER-17 CHAMPIONSHIP STATISTICS
TUESDAY'S RESULTS
Zambia 3 (Selemani 17', Lungu 44', B. Banda 61') Comoros 0
Tanzania 10 (Mbunda 1', Kipanga 8', Kisisa 13', Mohamedi 19', 89', Gindulya 31', Athuman 55', Shibara 71', 87', Masaka 83') Zimbabwe 1 (Machadu 78')
THURSDAY'S FIXTURES
12h30 (10h30 GMT) - South Africa vs Comoros
15h30 (13h30 GMT) - Zambia vs Zimbabwe
STANDINGS
P W D L GF GA GD PTS
Zambia 3 3 0 0 7 2 5 9
Tanzania 4 3 0 1 22 5 17 9
South Africa 3 1 0 2 9 8 1 3
Zimbabwe 3 1 0 2 4 19 -15 3
Comoros 3 0 0 3 3 11 -8 0
TOURNAMENT STATS
Matches Played: 8
Goals scored: 45
Biggest victory: Tanzania 10 Zimbabwe 1 (November 10)
Most goals in a game: 11 - Tanzania 10 Zimbabwe 1 (November 10)
GOALSCORERS
9 goals - Aisha Masaka (Tanzania)
3 - Jessica Wade (South Africa)
2 - Cindy Banda (Zambia), Protasia Mbunda (Tanzania), Nabeelah Galant (South Africa), Mwanamvua Haruna (Tanzania), Tisilile Lungu (Zambia), Noussrat Mistoihi (Comoros), Shehat Mohamedi (Tanzania), Neema Shibara (Tanzania)
1 - Zawadi Athuman (Tanzania), Bupe Banda (Zambia), Taonga Chulu (Zambia), Mohamed Dalila (Comoros), Ester Gindulya (Tanzania), Koku Kipanga (Tanzania), Irene Kisisa (Tanzania), Jade Leask (South Africa), Joyce Lema (Tanzania), Rudo Machadu (Zimbabwe), Ropafadzo Maferefa (Zimbabwe), Oyisa Marhasi (South Africa), Brenda Ndarowa (Zimbabwe), Morelife Nyagumbo (Zimbabwe), Tyler Scott (South Africa), Comfort Selemani (Zambia)
Own goal - Shehat Mohamedi (Tanzania)
This article originally appeared on Cosafa
Photo: Cosafa