Southern Africa neighbours Zambia and Malawi take to the pitch Princess Magogo Stadium in Durban, South Africa on Sunday in the quarter finals of the COSAFA Cup.
Kick-off is at 17:30 hours and the game will be live on Supersport
And both Zimbabwe and Lesotho advanced to the semi finals after beating Comoros and Uganda respectively.
Six times Champions Zimbabwe are the favourites as they are featuring a fully fledged squad and using the tournament to prepare for the African Cup of Nations in
Zambia caretaker coach Aggrey Chiyangi is set to unleash a new look locally based
Malawi has been so impressive in this year’s tournament and are yet to taste defeat after 3 game they have played so far.
Malawi secured their spot in the quarter finals after they topped Group B with 7 points. The Flames opened the tournament with a 3-nil win over Seychelles then went on to beat Namibia 2-1.
Mozambique held them to 1-all draw to book a date with Zambia.
The Chipolopolo boys are exempted from playing in the group stage due to their high FIFA ranking, they join the tournament in the quarter finals.
This will not make it easy for Zambia who will play a team with greater momentum, have mentally settled and bubbling in confidence.
Zambia last won the tournament in 2013 thanks to 5th minute Alex Ngonga beautiful curling short which went past Zimbabwean goalkeeper Nyamupanedengu, Kabaso Chongo added another goal which confirmed Chipolopolo as champions and that was their 4th titles to their name.
In 2017, Zambia finished as runners up after losing 3-1 to Zimbabwe but the closest the Chipolopolo boy got to winning the tournament was in 2018 when Zambia lost it with a minute for the match to end.
Zimbabwe won it 4-2, striker Tinotenda Kadewere opened the scoring in the 4th minute but Lazarus Kambole equalised and added another in the 50th minute, with only a minute to go, Kadewere equalised and the match went to extra time. Just after the start of extra time Khama Biliat gave Zimbabwe a lead. In the second half of extra time Biliat added another to break hearts of Zambian.
With a new crop of player, the football fans are expecting the Chipolopolo to go all the way to the final and win this year’s COSAFA Cup.
Adrian Chama will captain the team, Lazarus Kambole is the only player who will miss this match due to an injury unless he passes a last match fitness.
