Musundire to handle Cosafa

Mehluli Sibanda in Moruleng, South Africa—

TOP Zimbabwean referee Nomore Musundire has been handed the mantle to take charge of the COSAFA Under-20 final at Moruleng Stadium here this evening.Musundire has seen his profile steadily growing with the tall Harare referee being handed a number of CAF and COSAFA appointments.

Today Musundire will take charge of the clash between hosts South Africa and Zambia.

The match kicks off at 5.30pm.

It will be a battle between high scoring sides as both teams have scored freely throughout the tournament and it promises to be an exciting clash.

South Africa, winners of the competition when it was last held three years ago in Lesotho get into the final as firm favourites because of the way they have brushed aside their opponents on their way to the final.

Amajita thrashed Lesotho 8-0 in their first Group A fixture, a win they followed up with 1-0 triumphs over Swaziland and Botswana to book their place in the last four. On Wednesday evening, South Africa drubbed Angola 5-0 with four goals coming from Luther Singh who is now the leading marksman in the tournament with six goals.

While they have scored 15 goals in just four matches, South Africa have not yet conceded any goals so far with their defence doing a wonderful job of shielding goalkeeper Sanele Tshabalala from opposition attackers.

Besides Singh, Amajita also have the crowd’s favourite Sibongakonke Mbatha who mesmerised the spectators when he came on as substitute against Angola.

Zambia, the most successful side in this competition with 10 titles have also been rampant. They started off with a 5-1 triumph over Zimbabwe then thrashed Malawi 3-0 to top Group B. Young Chipolopolo then went on to triumph 2-0 over Mozambique to book their spot in the semifinals. Zambia struggled to overcome Democratic Republic of Congo in the last four.

The Zambians won the fixture 2-1 in a match DRC dominated for most parts of the second half.

Goalkeeper Mangani Banda, skipper Solomon Sakala, Chrispine Sakulanda as well as Fashion Sakala have been outstanding for Zambia so far in this competition and if they are at their best, then Zambia can go on to land their 11th title. What makes Zambia even hungrier for success is the fact that after claiming a hat-trick of titles in 2009, 2010 and 2011 they were bundled out in the first round in Lesotho in 2013.

Save for floodlight malfunctions which saw one fixture being carried over to the next day and a delay in the resumption of the second half in the semi-final between South Africa and Angola, the tournament has run smoothly. With entry to the event being free, South Africans, who created a carnival atmosphere for their future stars against Angola should come out in their number to back Amajita’s quest for regional glory.