Thursday, March 28, 2024

South Africa disappointed by Cosafa exit

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Isaac Kaledzi
Isaac Kaledzihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Kaledzi
Isaac Kaledzi is an experienced and award winning journalist from Ghana. He has worked for several media brands both in Ghana and on the International scene. Isaac Kaledzi is currently serving as an African Correspondent for DW.

South Africa coach Stuart Baxter was left frustrated after his side were knocked out of the Cosafa Cup in the quarter-finals losing 1-0 to Tanzania.

The hosts and defending regional champions lost despite dominating the game with 65 per cent possession.

Baxter was forced to choose a makeshift side scratched together from clubs willing to release players and members of the under-20 squad.

“It was very disappointing, I think the game was poor,” Baxter said.

“There was not a lot of quality shown by either side but we had a few chances and built a bit of pressure but failed to take them. A very disappointing evening.”

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Tanzania took their only real chance in the 18th minute when Elias Maguri was put through by a superb ball over the top of the home defence.

The win means Tanzania will now take on Zambia in the last four on Wednesday.

Zambia qualified for the semi-finals with a 2-1 win over Botswana on Saturday.

Unlike their seeded opponents in both Tanzania and Zambia came through a gruelling first round of group matches to reach the quarter-final stage.

Ovidy Karuru’s goal scoring exploits continued on Sunday as he notched his sixth goal in four games as Zimbabwe advanced to the semi-finals with a 2-1 over Swaziland.

Karuru is now the second highest scorer in competition history with six – all netted in the last four games as Zimbabwe took their total goal tally to 12.

He scored in the 16th minute for Zimbabwe but they then faded in second half to allow Swaziland to fight back and equalise through Felix Badenhorst.

Zimbabwe dug into their energy reserves to launch a comeback in the last quarter-hour and secured the win when substitute Knox Mutizwa headed from a corner.

The victory means Zimbabwe now meet Lesotho in Wednesday’s other semi-final.

Lesotho booked their place in the last four after beating Namibia on penalties on Saturday after the match ended goalless.

The four losing quarter-finalists now take part in the second-tier plate semi-finals on Tuesday as Botswana play South Africa and Namibia take on Swaziland.

 

 

BBC
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