Malawi fail to win bronze, Zambia lift Cosafa Cup
Malawi failed to claim bronze when they lost 0 – 1 to a not so impressive Botswana side while Zambia’s young Chipolopolo were crowned champions of the Cosafa under 20 youth tournament for the third time in a row after coming from behind to beat Angola 2 – 1 at the University of Botswana stadium on Saturday.
The Junior Flames coach John Kaputa made some changes to his starting eleven to give Carlington Misomali, Victor Mpinganjira and Willy Saenda their first starts but the team failed to stamp authority.
Against the run of play, Botswana scored the game’s only goal through Ogomoditswe Baoleni’s powerful shot after Misomali parried the ball in his tracks after 38 minutes.
Marching orders
Misomali got injured in the process and was subsititutated and rushed to the hospital with a neck injury.
Kaputa brought in Tony Chitsulo and Martin Masoatheka but they failed to make any impact to change the game.
Kondwani Lufeyo picked up a red card later on but the damage had already been done.
Kaputa thanked the boys for going up to the semifinal stages and says Malawi has a bright future if the lads are given the necessary support.
Finals
It was a final that kept fans on the edge of their seats through out.
Angola took the lead in the 33rd minute through Paciencia Cristovao and managed to hold the defending champions until the break.
Zambia came a polished side in the second half and did most of the attacking. Their efforts paid dividends in the 64th minute when the tournament’s top goal scorer Evans Kangwa took his tally to 7 goals and levelled matters for Zambia through his powerful shot.
They dominated possession and pressed hard for a second but Angola offered enough resistance through playmaker Domingos Mateus,Nicolu Adriano and Afonso Eddie.
Led by skipper Moses Siansumo, Zambia showed a real character of a champion, with only 2 minutes to go in added time,Ronald Kampamba scored a wonder of a goal when he saw the keeper off the line to plant home Zambia’s winner and with it,the cup.
Victorious coach Keegan Mumba said his charges deserved to win.
