South Africa Fight Back To Seal Cosafa Under-20 Final Spot
18-year old SuperSport United youngster Oswin Appollis turned on the power and was the hero as he struck twice to keep South Africa in the contest as Amajita rallied from two goals down to seal a place in the final of the 2019 Cosafa men’s Under-20 Championship over Madagascar at the Nkoloma Stadium, Lusaka, Zambia yesterday.
Man-of-the-match Appolis scored his first goal in the 66th minute to make it 2-1 and then equalised in stoppage time before Amajita went on to win 5-4 in the penalty shootout to seal a gold medal match against hosts Zambia who comprehensively beat Angola 3-0 in the other semi-final match.
South Africa scored all of their penalties‚ while the Malagasy struck the crossbar with their fifth effort.
Coach Helman Mkhalele’s will now seek to make it a hat-trick of titles in this competition in Saturday’s decider.
Zambia and South Africa clash in the final on Saturday at 15h00.
The bronze-medal match between Madagascar and Angola will kick-off at 11h30.
The Player of the Tournament will also be announced after the final, with the winner set to go on trial as Spanish second-tier side CD Numancia, an opportunity presented by COSAFA partner LaLiga.
Both games on Saturday will be played at the Nkoloma Stadium.
THURSDAY’S RESULTS
Semifinals
South Africa 2 (Appollis 66’, 90’) Madagascar 2 (Ranaivo Harison 12’, Arnaud 29’) – SA won 5-4 on penalties
Zambia 3 (Gondwe 31’,76’, Mwepu 80’) Angola 0
SATURDAY’S FIXTURES
Third-Place Play-Off
11h30 (09h30 GMT): Madagascar vs Angola – Nkoloma Stadium
Final
15h00 (13h00 GMT): South Africa vs Zambia – Nkoloma Stadium
By Gerald Dandah
