Mozambique edge Angola as Cosafa semifinal line-ups are confirmed

Hosts Mozambique claimed the final semi-final place at the TotalEnergies CAF under-20 Africa Cup of Nations | Cosafa Qualifier on Wednesday after edging Angola on Fair Play points, with South Africa and Zambia completing perfect group-stage campaigns.

Mozambique and Angola finished level on six points, with identical records of nine goals scored and two conceded, but Mozambique’s superior Fair Play record secured their passage as the best runner-up.

They will face Group A winners Namibia in Friday’s semi-finals, while defending champions South Africa meet Zambia in a clash between two sides who won all three of their pool matches.

South Africa confirmed top spot in Group B with a 2-0 victory over Eswatini, while Angola finished second with emphatic 5-0 win over Lesotho.

Angola made a flying start as Jairo Muanha opened the scoring in the sixth minute before Luís Panda doubled their advantage seven minutes later.

Panda completed his brace from the penalty spot in the 19th minute, and Romano Domingos added a fourth before halftime.

Domingos completed the scoring in the 86th minute as Angola finished their campaign with six points and a goal difference of +7, exactly matching Mozambique’s record in Group A.

It meant the fourth semi-final place was decided on Fair Play points, with Mozambique advancing to set up a rematch against Namibia, who defeated them 1-0 in the group stage.

South Africa made certain of their place in the knockout rounds with a 2-0 victory over Eswatini to finish top of Group B with nine points from three matches.

Manelisi Mazibuko opened the scoring in the 25th minute before Milimo Nalumango doubled the advantage nine minutes later.

Amajita have now scored seven goals without conceding at the tournament and will take on Zambia in Friday’s first semi-final.Zambia had already secured top spot in Group C with a game to spare but maintained their perfect record with a 3-1 victory over Botswana.

Daniel Silubonde gave the Junior Chipolopolo the lead in the ninth minute, but Botswana equalised through Kent Murandu two minutes into the second half.

Silubonde restored Zambia’s advantage in the 64th minute with his second goal of the game before John Foloko added a third in stoppage time. Zambia finished with nine points from three matches, having scored eight goals and conceded just once.

Malawi produced a dramatic late comeback to defeat Comoros 2-1 in the other Group C fixture, but their six points and +2 goal-difference were not enough to claim the best runner-up spot.

Ziyad Moussa had given Comoros the lead in the 23rd minute, and they looked set to claim their first victory of the competition until a remarkable finish.

An own goal from goalkeeper Fayyad Issilamou-Hamza in the third minute of stoppage time brought Malawi level before Austin Yasini struck the winner three minutes later.

The four remaining teams will now turn their attention to Friday’s semi-finals at ABB Stadium 2, where the two finalists will secure qualification for the TotalEnergies CAF Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations Ghana 2027.

South Africa and Zambia meet in the opening fixture at 12h00 CAT in a contest between two unbeaten teams.

Defending champions Amajita have yet to concede a goal in the competition, while Zambia have won all three of their fixtures and boast eight goals scored.

Namibia and Mozambique meet in the second semi-final at 18h00 CAT, having already faced each other in Group A. Namibia won that encounter 1-0 on their way to a perfect nine points, scoring five goals without conceding in their three matches.

Mozambique, meanwhile, will look to tournament leading scorer Alírio Cuna, who has five goals, including a hat-trick in Tuesday’s 5-0 victory over Mauritius.

Both semi-finals will be played at ABB Stadium 2, with the winners advancing to Sunday’s final and booking their places at the continental finals in Ghana.

Matches will be streamed live for free on Fifa+, Cosafa’s YouTube channel and CAF TV. Matches will also be broadcast on TVM.

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