Published:
Friday, 11 October 2024
South Africa and Malawi shone bright in both the Boys and Girls competitions on the opening day of the CAF African Schools Football Championship | COSAFA Qualifier in Walvis Bay, Namibia on Friday 11 October.
Namibia is playing host to the qualifiers over the next three days to determine the two nations in the both and girls U-15 competition that will advance to the finals.
Malawi took charge of Group A in the Boys competition after they claimed a 5- 0 win over hosts Namibia and followed that up with a 4-0 success against Lesotho.
Malawi were beaten finalists last year as they lost on penalties to South Africa, and will be desperate to go one better this time round.
Zambia forfeited their opener 3-0 to Lesotho as they were absent but followed that up with a 1-0 victory over Namibia in their second game to remain very much in contention for the semifinals.
Namibia are not quite out of it yet but will need to beat Lesotho handsomely in their final fixture on Saturday to stand a chance and hope too that Malawi defeat Zambia.
South Africa booked a semifinal place from Group B with a narrow 1-0 win over Zimbabwe that was followed by a more comprehensive 3-0 success against Angola.
They now have six points and the results in the rest of the group mean they cannot finish outside of the top two.
Angola and Eswatini played to a 1-1, with the latter and Zimbabwe to play two games on Saturday. Malawi and Namibia are locked together on four points at the top of Group A in the Girls competition. Malawi drew 2-2 with Namibia in their first game before a thumping 5-0 success over Lesotho.
The Zambian Girls will not take part in the competition in Walvis Bay, so their matches are all awarded to opponents by a 3-0 scoreline.
That means Malawi have effectively reached the semifinals as they will have seven points when awarded that game on Saturday and cannot finish outside of the top two.
Namibia got their 3-0 win over Zambia and the 2-2 draw with Malawi, so it is essentially between them and Lesotho for the second semifinal place from the pool.
They will meet at 10h00 CAT (08h00 GMT) on Saturday to decide who advances, with Namibia needing just a draw.
South Africa top Group B in the Girls competition after a pair of thumping wins as they defeated Zimbabwe 7-0 and then completed a 13-0 victory over Angola. That is one goal shy of the competition record 14-0 win over Angola they registered last year in Harare.
Eswatini are currently in second place in the pool after they defeated Angola 5-0. They and Zimbabwe have only played a single game so far and it will be a crunch battle between those two on Saturday for second place in the group.
Source link : https://www.cafonline.com/caf-african-school-football-championship/news/south-africa-malawi-shine-on-day-01-of-caf-african-schools-football-championship-cosafa-qualifiers/
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Publish date : 2024-10-12 10:27:07
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