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ZIMBABWE stunned hosts Zambia with a 2-1 victory to set up a mouth-watering final against holders, South Africa, in the 2018 Mopani Copper Mines Cosafa Under-20 Championships at the Nkana Stadium in Kitwe yesterday.
Zimbabwe ran out deserved winners after coming from behind to beat 2016 winners Zambia and will now tackle South Africa in tomorrow’s final at the same venue, which will kick-off at 3.30PM.
Zambia will seek to make up for their disappointment when they host Angola in the third-place play-off earlier in the day.
Zambia looked on course for the final when they took the lead on 37 minutes through star striker, Prince Mumba, who netted his fourth goal of the campaign, having been supplied by the excellent Lameck Banda.
But within a minute, Bekithemba Ndlovu -coached Zimbabwe were level, as captain Andrew Mbeba stunned the hosts with a neatly taken strike after Zambia goalkeeper Bradley Mweene had dropped the ball at his feet.
The match was played at a furious pace and swung from end-to-end, but it was Zimbabwe who found the winner as Delic Murimba also netted his fourth goal of the campaign to join Mumba and South Africa’s Lyle Foster at the top of the scorers’ list.
Earlier in the day, South Africa advanced after a narrow 1-0 victory over Angola in their semi-final, with Foster grabbing his fourth goal of the campaign.
Monaco-bound Foster showed his quality when he netted from a through-ball by midfielder Nkosingiphile Ngcobo, who put in a man of the match display in the centre of the park.
Foster had earlier missed a similar chance, while Ngcobo had a chance to make it 2-0 in the second period, but fired inches wide, and James Monyana was thwarted by Angolan goalkeeper, Carlos Peixoto.
South Africa were largely untroubled by the Angolan strikers and completed a third match at the tournament without conceding a goal.
They will now hope to retain the title they won in the final against Lesotho 12 months ago, as coach Thabo Senong builds confidence ahead of an appearance e at the 2019 African Under-20 Championships in Niger in February.
— Cosafa
Online Reporter