Vusumuzi Dube
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE have missed out on an opportunity to advance to the semifinals of this year’s Cosafa Women’s Championship currently underway in Gqeberha, South Africa.
The Mighty Warriors were on Monday in line to qualify as the best runners up after they thumped last year’s beaten finalists Botswana 3-0 in their last group B fixture played at the Wolfson Stadium. However, the win, while it took the Sithethelelwe Sibanda coached lasses to six points could only give them a plus one goal difference after they lost 3-0 to Tanzania and beat South Sudan 2-1. Tanzania qualified for the semifinals as the group B winners while defending champions South Africa topped group A.
Zimbabwe were temporarily in line to qualify for the semis as the best runners up before Malawi defeated Angola 2-0 to put themselves in a better position to secure qualification to the last four. However, Uganda can qualify for the semis as the runners up if they beat Zambia on Tuesday. Zambia can still make it to the semis even if they lose to Uganda.
While Zimbabwe bow out, their performance this year was certainly better than how they fared at the same competition last year where they lost their two group matches and returned home with zero points.
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Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter