Zambia will play Botswana in the quarter finals of the regional COSAFA Castle Cup tournament to be played in South Africa in June.
According to the draws conducted on Tuesday in South Africa, Zambia, Botswana, South Africa, Swaziland and Namibia were all excluded from the preliminary rounds which will be contested by eight other teams.
Zambia last year were booted out of the tournament after losing to Swaziland on post match penalties under the tutelage of George Lwandamina and Aggrey Chiyangi.
They were held to a goalless draw in regulation time and Paul Katema and Spencer Sautu failed to convert their spot kicks.
They went on to play in the plate semi final where they beat Lesotho 3 – 2 with goals from Paul Katema, Spencer Sautu and Charles Zulu.
They then lost 1 – 0 in the final to Namibia.
It will be a tight schedule for Wedson Nyirenda’s team with the CHAN, Africa Cup of Nations and World Cup all lined up between 9th June and 28th August, 2017.
2017 COSAFA CASTLE CUP FIXTURES:
GROUP PHASE
25/6/17 Tanzania vs Malawi 15h00 (Moruleng Stadium)
25/6/17 Mauritius vs Angola 17h30 (Moruleng Stadium)
26/6/17 Mozambique vs Zimbabwe 17h00 (Moruleng Stadium)
26/6/17 Madagascar vs Seychelles 19h30 (Moruleng Stadium)
27/6/17 Malawi vs Mauritius 17h00 (Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace)
27/6/17 Angola vs Tanzania 19h30 (Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace)
28/6/17 Zimbabwe vs Madagascar
17h00 (Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace)
28/6/17 Seychelles vs Mozambique
19h30 (Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace)
29/6/17 Tanzania vs Mauritius 17h00 (Moruleng Stadium)
29/6/17 Malawi vs Angola 17h00 (Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace)
30/6/17 Mozambique vs Madagascar
17h00 (Moruleng Stadium)
30/6/17 Zimbabwe vs Seychelles
17h00 (Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace)
QUARTERFINALS
01/7/17 Botswana vs Zambia
15h00 (Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace)
01/7/17 Namibia vs Lesotho
17h30 (Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace)
02/7/17 South Africa vs Win. Group A
17h00 (Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace)
02/7/17 Swaziland vs Win. Group B
19h30 (Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace)
“It will be a tight schedule for Wedson Nyirenda’s team with the CHAN, Africa Cup of Nations and World Cup all lined up between 9th June and 28th August, 2017″…. But doesnt this also play to the advantage of the Coach/Technical team to shuffle around players and streamline them for the continental and global challenges?
Great chance 2 come up with a strongest side which wil see us qaulify 4 ze world cup
The Game of football is about scoring, and the only players who score are in the U20 team.why don’t we bring them in the senior team. Because the way the so-called experienced players are playing will take us no where. We can’t even enjoy watching the game, as if its Mufulila Black Pool