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ZIMBABWE’S Young Warriors need to maintain their momentum when they face hosts Mozambique in their last Group A match of the TotalEnergies Caf Under-20 Afcon – Cosafa Qualifier to ensure they advance to the semi-finals tomorrow.
Kickoff is 3pm.
The Zimbabweans go into the game with their spirits high after taking control of the group with a 3-0 thrashing of Eswatini on Saturday.
Only the top team will earn direct qualification to the last four, while there is a window of opportunity for the best placed runners-up from the three groups.
The Young Warriors edged neighbours Botswana to the top of the table despite both teams having amassed four points apiece, ahead of the final round robin matches.
Group A was narrowed to a three-horse race after Botswana handed Mozambique their second defeat with a 2-1 result that effectively ended the hosts’ top four ambitions.
Eswatini, who have garnered three points from two games, still cherish their chances as well. But with Botswana and Eswatini set to cancel out each other in another high stakes encounter today, Zimbabwe, will still need to get their game plan right in order to sail through to the last four directly.
Coach Simon Marange said they will not leave anything to chance after seeing his team score three past Eswatini without response on Saturday.
They had drawn 1-1 with Botswana in the opening match of the tournment, after conceding a late equaliser. But the Young Warriors were on a higher plane on Saturday with Tanaka Cherera giving them a 1-0 lead after 26 minutes when he beat the Eswatini goalkeeper Andile Awu with a long range short.
They made a perfect start to the second half when Nisbet Muzenda converted from the penalty spot to increase the score to 2-0.
Prince Ndlovu added a third on the 85th minute when he met Kennedy Mupomba’s cross with a diving header. Marange said they were working on a plan to stop the hosts and ensure automatic qualification.
“I think our victory really opened up the group,” said Marange.
‘It makes it wide but there is still a lot of work to do. We have watched Mozambique play. We will try and find consistencies in how they play and we will try to plan to adjust a little bit.
“There isn’t much time to prepare so we have to summarise the information as much as possible to the players. But I am confident we will come up with a plan that we will try and execute on Monday (today) especially after watching them play (their second game against Botswana).
Mozambique Under-20 have nothing much to play for after losing both games and sitting bottom of Group A with no points in the bag.
Their coach Sergio Faife indicated he would make wholesale changes to his team in the hope of getting a consolation victory against Zimbabwe.
“We would have loved to go to the next stage but it wasn’t easy for us. So, we are going to change our team and give other players some minutes to play,” said Faife.
Angola Under-20 became the first team to book a place in the semi-finals with their 1-0 Group B victory over Namibia yesterday.
Rivals Zambia and Namibia meet in the final game tomorrow, looking to cling to their slim hopes of a place in the last four in this odd three-team pool.
South Africa, who thumped Lesotho 6-0 yesterday, continued with their dominance of Group C after taking their tally to six points. They lead the pool with six points.
Only the top team in each pool advances to the semi-finals along with the best-placed runner-up. At the end the two finalists will qualify for the TotalEnegies Under-20 Afcon finals to be played next year.
The continental tournament in turn will act as the African preliminary tournament for the 2025 Fifa Under-20 World Cup in Chile, with the continent to have four representatives.
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