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Zambia Chop Bafana To Reach COSAFA Cup Final
Bronson Chama netted the winning penalty as Zambia ran out 5-3 winners against South Africa to book their ticket to the final of the COSAFA Cup following a goalless draw after 120 minutes at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium.
The Chipolopolo will meet Zimbabwe in the final on Saturday, while Bafana Bafana will have play against Lesotho for the bronze medal in the competition.
The fixture presented itself as one of Africa’s great derbies in which the hosts, Zambia, were looking to reach their sixth final in the last seven tournaments.
Zambia exuded pace from the first whistle and they caused some worrying moments in Bafana’s defence when Tshepo Gumede failed to clear the ball first time. He needed a second tempt to beat the ball out of the box in the fourth minute.
Herve Renard’s men did put the ball into the back of the net in the 12th minute after a tap-in by Festus Mbewe. It did not stand, however, as the referee adjudged him to have fouled Wayne Sandilands during his attempt.
Ten minutes later Thulani Hlatshwayo had to be on guard when he was called into action in clearing Bornwell Mwape’s snapshot on the left side of the box- the Ajax Cape Town defender pushing the ball out for a corner.
Then, in the 26th minute, Katlego Mashego supplied a superb free-kick to Ruzaigh Gamildien in the box. The Bloemfontein Celtic man headed it narrowly wide of the far post, but, regardless of what could have come from it, it was flagged offside.
South Africa were put on the defensive for the majority of the half, and they were lucky not to go a goal behind when Mbewe tried to get goal side of Gumede.
After the restart, Sandilands smothered Mukuka Mulenga’s free-kick at the near post, before he witnessed Mwape%u2019s long range powerful set-piece get deflected over his crossbar.
Gamildien should have made it 1-0 to South Africa on the stroke of the hour, as he flung the rebounded ball, which hit the post off a corner kick, disappointingly over the crossbar.
The visitors were living life dangerously as the game approached its final 15 minutes, as they were continuously pegged back by Zambia’s flurry of corner kicks.
In the 81st minute the perfect opportunity to put South Africa in the lead was wasted by Lerato Chabangu. The Moroka Swallows player received the ball off a cross by Mandla Masango, but he failed to put it between the goalkeeper and post as he struck the woodwork.
A similar event happened to Zambia five minutes later when they also hit the woodwork after Kondwani Mtongo’s volley, off a free-kick, struck the goal frame as well.
Following a goalless 90 minutes, the game was forced into 30 minutes of extra-time.
The tempo of the game took a substantial drop and it saw Mwape having to result to taking a long range strike, but it was way off target in the 102nd minute of the game.
At the start of the second period of extra time, Gordon Igesund opted to make his final change of the game by bringing on Mzikayize Mashaba in place of Gamildien.
However, it made no difference as the evident fatigue left both teams shooting blanks, resulting in the game going into penalties.
The shoot-out was all even up until South Africa%u2019s third kick when Chabangu was denied from the spot by Munyau’s gloves.
Chongo and Mashaba converted their respective efforts and it was up to the Zambian skipper Chama to net the winning penalty. He did so with ease as Zambia came out 5-3 winners.
Posted by Kunda
on July 18, 2013. Filed under LATEST NEWS, SPORTS.
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GunnerZ
July 18, 2013 at 11:58 am
Good Luck young chipolopolo boys.
xxx
July 18, 2013 at 12:10 pm
we won by luck only nothing else!! we didnt play well at all,if we play like that Zimbabwe will chew us!!
bmk
July 18, 2013 at 6:21 pm
bamudala ala mulekafye,that is football if we did not play well we could have been beaten.
LUVTED
July 18, 2013 at 12:14 pm
That woz a nice game chipo boyz !
ManU
July 18, 2013 at 12:16 pm
Ba XXX yama, ala yalikosafye bolla. Football is about winning.Go Zambia Go.Showers of blessings ikali. Viva Zambia.
k.chibs
July 18, 2013 at 12:38 pm
the only important is that we won the game.
Uwakwamununga
July 18, 2013 at 12:41 pm
ATI SHANI BA TB JOSHUA? MWALAUMFWA………!
zambian
July 18, 2013 at 1:21 pm
The game was very tough indeed but favour yabayawe saw us through viva chipolopolo,now go for the cup on Saturday.
Its just COSAFA
July 18, 2013 at 5:28 pm
God has nothing to do with the result of a football game
Henry
July 18, 2013 at 1:29 pm
That was good keep it up.
Muzyeche
July 18, 2013 at 1:33 pm
Ba xxx muleikala fye which other nice playin do you want?kwati iwe kuti wateya bola.learn to appreciate. the boys played very well n at last we won period.
CACINE
July 18, 2013 at 1:44 pm
What a bad game for Zambia. I never enjoyed watching that game at all.
swine
July 18, 2013 at 4:58 pm
ninshi tawailile mukalala, waletina ukusunda pa bulo?…some of us stayed up late enjoying the game with a ka chilled castle muminwe!..now lets ZAAAAAP the Zimbos!
shakazulu
July 18, 2013 at 2:22 pm
Ba Cacine kabiyeni uko, who forced you to watch the game if it was bad? muleikalafye ngatamukwete ifya kulemba, the game was nice, congrats chipolopolo for winning the game you are the future national team.
PF (pa fyamba)
July 18, 2013 at 2:23 pm
Very interesting game indeed!!
MMD Cadre
July 18, 2013 at 3:51 pm
Shame to those haters, the boys put up a spirited fight yesterday, continue with same spirit chipolopolo boys, we are behind you, ignore these pathetic haters. Pipo let us learn to appreciate, our boys played an excellent game.
isaac
July 18, 2013 at 4:22 pm
Those who know football can tell these other pipo who fail to analyse it. That was an interesting game and both teams put a lot of effort. I really enjoyed it.
ABBA
July 18, 2013 at 4:39 pm
FAIR GAME …..FEVA YA LESA
Its just COSAFA
July 18, 2013 at 5:27 pm
Nothing to be ballistic about. We need Brazil not these little trophies
tkzee
July 18, 2013 at 6:04 pm
dreaming at its highest level!
Kasama Boy
July 18, 2013 at 7:56 pm
Muletasha naimwe, that was a good game for a developmental side. After all some of you naku Chimpombwa nimwe mwalesunga ama shirt ne nsapato. Ubushiku pama lait mwaleba bamukolwe nangu ba chimbwi.