dyton mupawaenda
Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE are set to fight for bronze medal in the boys’ competition at the CAF African Schools Football Championship — COSAFA Qualifiers — after finishing second in Group A.
The Under-15 boys school team thrashed neighbours Mozambique 3-0 yesterday but the win was not enough to secure them a top spot finish which guaranteed a place in today’s final.
Instead, Group A winners Malawi will play Group B winners South Africa in the final at 12 noon. Zimbabwe and Namibia will warm the stage at 10am.
The home team’s captain Tadiwa Chakuchichi and prolific goal scorer El Shaddai Sadomba continued to carry the Zimbabwe team after putting their names on the scoresheet again yesterday.
Sadomba, who is son of former Zimbabwe international Edward Sadomba, grabbed his second brace of the tournament in the win over Mozambique yesterday, to take his tally to five goals in four matches.
Nyakuchichi has also been influential and yesterday was named Man of the Match for the third time in four games.
Fan favourite, Awakhiwe Tshalibe continued to mesmerise the home fans with his amazing footwork, which compensates well his small frame.
But the 0-4 defeat to Malawi in their opening fixture on Thursday eventually proved fatal in the final log standings. Malawi finished unbeaten in a group that also featured Botswana, Mozambique and Eswatini.
The Malawians finished with 12 points and Zimbabwe had nine points. South Africa won Group B with 10 points. They edged Namibia by one point in their final pool standings, their only blemish a 0-0 draw with Madagascar in their final game.
The final could explode into an interesting duel as South Africa, who were the top scorers in the pool phase with 12 goals, go head to head with a Malawi side that conceded only once in four outings.
In the girls’ competition, the Zimbabwe team fell short after finishing fourth in the five-team pool. After losing two matches on the opening day and winning one, their world came crashing down yesterday with a 2-0defeat to Mozambique.
As a result, they finished with three points, from the 5-1 drubbing of Eswatini on Thursday.
Botswana topped the group with eight points after organisers had to apply tie-break rules as Malawi and Mozambique also had accumulated the same number of points.
“It was a complicated equation with three teams finishing on eight points in the final standings, and after head-to-head could not separate them, it eventually came down to goal-difference in all pool matches between Botswana and Mozambique after Malawi were eliminated from top spot having not scored a goal against their two rivals.
“It then came down to head-to-head and goal-difference between Botswana Mozambique, where the former came out on top,” COSAFA explained in a statement.
Botswana will face South Africa in the final.
The South Africans had a clean sweep after winning all four games, and scoring a whopping 28 goals in the process, while conceding none.
The girls’ final will be staged at 11am. The girls’ third-place play-off is the first fixture for the day as Malawi and Namibia are billed to clash for bronze at 9am.
According to the tournament rules, the girls’ tournament is played on half-sized pitches and is 8-a-side.
The boys’ competition is played on full size pitches with 11-a-side, while in both competitions it will be 20 minutes per half, with a 10-minute halftime break.
The prize giving ceremony will be conducted at 1pm.
Online Reporter