Young Warriors Fall To Zambia In COSAFA Semifinal, Fail To Qualify For AFCON
Zimbabwe’s Young Warriors have failed to qualify for the 2025 CAF Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations after losing 6-5 on penalties to Zambia in the semifinal of the COSAFA Qualifier in Mozambique on Thursday, 03 October.
In what was a one-sided first half, Zambia’s Mumba Mwale scored early in the game when he fired the ball into the roof of the net following a deflection.
Zambia skipper David Simukonda led by example when he connected with a cross from Emmanuel Mwanza to make the score 2-0 inside 25 minutes.
Zimbabwe were the better team in the second half and their hard work paid off when Prince Ndhlovu came off the bench to score with an overhead kick.
Zimbabwe were then awarded a penalty after Simukonda was fouled in the box. Denzel Mapuwa’s penalty was saved but Ndhlovu completed his brace as he equalised from the rebound to make it 2-2.
That sent the game to penalties and after both sides had an early miss, Zambia eventually triumphed 6-5 to reach the decider.
In the other semifinal of the COSAFA Qualifier also played on Thursday, South Africa edged Angola 1-0.
Angola goalkeeper Domingo Da Silva was called on to make a double save in the 19th minute to keep the score level in the first semifinal, however Lee Jody Ahshene opened the scoring shortly afterwards to give South Africa the lead.
He turned his defender before firing into the bottom corner of the net.
South Africa was denied a second goal by the crossbar early in the second half from Shandre Miguel Campbell’s powerful shot.
Angola piled on the pressure in the dying minutes of the game, pushing their opponents to defend deep into their box but it was too little, too late for an equaliser.
South Africa and Zambia will now meet in Saturday’s final of the TotalEnergies CAF Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations COSAFA Qualifier.
Both teams have qualified for the AFCON U20 finals which will determine the four teams from Africa that will compete at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Chile next year.
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