Thursday, March 28, 2024

Cosafa U20: Trio join Zambia in the semis

Mozambique, Angola and South Africa sealed their places in the semifinals of the TotalEnergies U20 AFCON Egypt 2023 | COSAFA Qualifiers on Wednesday as the group phase in the regional championship came to an end in Eswatini.

Mozambique top Group B and South Africa end as the leading side in Group C, with Angola booking their place as the best runner-up across the three pools.

It means defending champions Mozambique will take on South Africa in Friday’s first semifinal (kick-off 12h00 CAT), with Group A winners Zambia to tackle the dangerous Angolans in the second fixture (15h30 CAT).

The winners of those ties will qualify for the TotalEnergies U20 AFCON Egypt 2023 early next year, which in turn acts as the qualifier for the FIFA Under-20 World Cup to be played in Indonesia later in 2023.

Mozambique booked their passage with a 2-1 victory over Lesotho to make in three wins from three in their pool as they seek to retain the title they won two years ago. Denio Munhave and Jose Zavala got their goals.

Angola sealed the best runner-up spot as they thumped Seychelles 8-1, with Danilson Makokisa netting a hattrick to take him joint top of the scorers charts along with Eswatini’s Mukelo Nkambule on four goals.

João De Brito also got a brace in a dominant performance from the Angolans, who served notice of their potential in this competition.

It was tight in Group C as South Africa, Malawi and Comoros all finished on six points in the pool, but South Africa advanced by virtue of the better head-to-head record among the three teams.

That came after their 4-0 victory over Comoros, handed to them by goals from Prince Manku, Mohau Nkota, Puso Dithejane and Relebohile Ratomo, which meant they had the better goal-difference.

Comoros had won their first two games but could not get the point they needed for a historic knockout stage place.

Malawi’s 5-2 win over Namibia proved in vain as they could only finish second in the pool. Chikumbutso Salima scored a brace in the game as they finished on a high.

WEDNESDAY’S RESULTS
Group B

Mozambique 2 (Munhave 35′, Zavala 55′) Lesotho 1 (Tsibela 66′)

Angola 8 (De Brito 5′, 60′, Lopes 24′, Makokisa 27′, 34′, 53′, Paxe 30′, Borges 79′) Seychelles 1 (Raheriniaina 50’pen)

Group C
South Africa 4
(Manku 24′, Nkota 42′, Dithejane 68′, Ratomo 87’) Comoros 0

Namibia 2 (Stern 62’, Prins 65’) Malawi 5 (Salima 11′, 40′, Mphasi 49′, Mapemba 53′, Saviel 83′)
FRIDAY’S FIXTURES

Semifinals
12h00 CAT (10h00 GMT) –
Mozambique vs South Africa – Somhlolo Stadium

15h30 CAT (13h30 GMT) – Zambia vs Angola – Somhlolo Stadium

FINAL GROUP STANDINGS

GROUP APWDLGFGAGDPTS
Zambia (Q)33006069
Eswatini32019366
Botswana310223-13
Mauritius3003011-110
GROUP BPWDLGFGAGDPTS
Mozambique (Q)33008269
Angola (Q)3201132116
Lesotho310227-53
Seychelles3003214-120
GROUP CPWDLGFGAGDPTS
South Africa (Q)32019456*
Malawi32017436*
Comoros320134-16*
Namibia3003411-70


* the head-to-head record between the three teams level on six points in Group C is as follows:

South Africa (Q)21014223
Malawi21012203
Comoros210124-23


TOURNAMENT STATS

Matches Played: 18

Goals scored: 65

Biggest victory: Eswatini 7 Mauritius 0 (Group A, October 11); Angola 8 Seychelles 1 (Group B, October 12)

Most goals in a game: 9 – Angola 8 Seychelles 1 (Group B, October 12)

GOALSCORERS

4 goals – Danilson Makokisa (Angola), Mukelo Nkambule (Eswatini)

3 – Denio Munhave (Mozambique)

2 – Chamito Alfandega (Mozambique), Oshwin Andries (South Africa), João De Brito (Angola), Diogenes Inacio (Angola), Antonio Lopes (Angola), Chifundo Mphasi (Malawi), Rickson Ng’ambi (Zambia), Siphephelo Philiso (Eswatini), Djwa Ramos (Mozambique), Relebohile Ratomo (South Africa), Chikumbutso Salima (Malawi)

1 – Samuel Betombo (Comoros), Luis Borges (Angola), Luke Daniels (South Africa), Puso Dithejane (South Africa), Lawrence Doeseb (Namibia), Sizwe Khumalo (Eswatini), Mayibongwe Mabuza (Eswatini), Neo Maieane (Lesotho), Prince Manku (South Africa), Chrispine Mapemba (Malawi), Vincent Mkandawire (Malawi), Nonofo Mosweunyane (Botswana), Botshelo Motsheja (Botswana), Emmanuel Mukosha (Zambia), Lombe Mutale (Zambia), Kingston Mutandwa (Zambia), Mohau Nkota (South Africa), Alfonso Paxe (Angola), Rewaldo Prins (Namibia), Imra Raheriniaina (Seychelles), Yakine Said (Comoros), Emmanuel Saviel (Malawi), Chipyoka Songa (Zambia), Raymonzo Stern (Namibia), Antonio Sumbane (Mozambique), Tanki Tsibela (Lesotho), Alberto Van Wyk (Namibia), Isaac Vidal (Angola), Glen Younousse (Comoros), Jose Zavala (Mozambique)

Own Goal – Nonofo Mosweunyane (Botswana)

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