Cape Town - Hosts South Africa will take on Zambia in Sunday’s final of the 2022 Hollywoodbets Cosafa Women’s Championship, after the pair won through hard-fought semi-finals at the Isaac Wolfson Stadium on Friday.
Zambia, who have never lifted the trophy before, defeated defending champions Tanzania 2-1 to end their short reign, while South Africa edged neighbours Namibia 1-0 in two contests that in truth, could have gone either way.
It sets up a mouth-watering final between the 2022 Caf Women’s Africa Cup of Nations bronze medallists Zambia and the gold medal winners South Africa, though this is a much-changed squad for the hosts without many of their leading stars. The kick-off is at 3pm.
The best news for local fans is that tickets to the matches are free. It can be collected from Sasol outlets in Summerstrand, Disa, Motherwell and Standford Road.
The third-place play-off on Sunday will be at the same venue between Tanzania and Namibia, with a 12noon kick-off.
Barbra Banda netted her ninth goal of the competition to set Zambia on their way against the Twiga Stars. However, the East African guest nation equalised when Copper Queens defender Lushomo Mweemba headed the ball into her own net.
That was the way it stayed until just after halftime, when Misozi Zulu put the Zambians back into the lead, which they held onto for the remainder of the game.
South Africa and Namibia looked to be heading for penalties having cancelled each other out, but a late goal from Lithemba Sam-Sam secured victory with eight minutes left on the clock.
It was her fourth goal of the competition as she was sent through on goal and rounded the keeper before supplying a neat finish.
Friday's semi-final results:
Zambia 2 (B Banda 12’, Zulu 46’) Tanzania 1 (Mweemba 28’og)
South Africa 1 (Sam-Sam 82’) Namibia 0
Sunday fixtures (Wolfson Stadium):
Third-place play-off, 12h00: Tanzania vs Namibia,
Final, 15h00: Zambia vs South Africa – Wolfson Stadium
IOL Sport