Malawi v Lesotho first in COSAFA Cup semifinal at 15h00 CAT on Friday
The first to take to the pitch in Friday’s 2023 COSAFA Cup semifinal clashes will between Malawi at 15h00 central African time (CAT) followed by South Africa against defending champions Zambia, at 18h00 CAT.
Both matches will be played at the King Zwelithini Stadium and are free of charge, whose match tickets will be distributed on a first come, first served basis.
Zambia qualified as best runners-up after Mauritius lost to Mozambique in their last Group C encounter in which the Mauritians need to win by four clear goals — but they lost 0-1.
Meanwhile, SuperSport has apologized for failing to beam the Flames match against Comoros and assures that the next matches will be broadcast live.
Most Malawians followed the 2-0 victory against Comoros on FIFA+ — https://www.fifa.
Fans can also follow a behind the scenes look at the tournament on COSAFA’s various platforms of website cosafa.com, YouTube channel, Twitter, Facebook page, Instagram and TikTok.
Meanwhile, 18 games were played in the group matches in which 42 goals were scored with the biggest victory being Comoros beating Seychelles 3-0 in Group B.
Most goals scored in a game were 6 in Seychelles 2 Zambia 4 (Group B) and Angola 4 Lesotho 2 (Group C).
So far, there are six who have scored two goals each — Affane Djambae (Comoros), Albert Kangwanda & Fredrick Mulambia (Zambia), Tshegofatso Mabasa (South Africa), Bongwa Matsebula (Eswatini) and Neo Mokhachane (Lesotho).
The chance to contest for the Golden Boot for the Flames is upon single goal scorers Christopher Kumwembe, Chawanangwa Kaonga, Patrick Mwaungulu and Lanjesi Nkhoma.
The Flames qualified for the semi-finals for the first time in 20 years and also for the first time ever to win all their group matches on clean sheet.
The Flames have also went a mile far by producing Man of the Match winners in all the three group matches — left back Alick Lungu in the first game against Zambia; Chawangwa Kaonga in the second against Seychelles and Patrick Mwaungulu against Comoros.
After keeping clean sheets in the last four games, goalkeeper Brighton Munthali has equalled the record achieved by Bonifice Maganga in 1979, John Dzimbiri twice in 1984 and 1985 and Donnex Gongwe thrice in 1988, 1989 and 1990.
He also kept a clean sheet in a goalless draw against Ethiopia in a 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier last month and he will equal the all-time record of five set by Gondwe in 1988 if he keeps another cleansheet in tomorrow’s semifinal.
In its report for the Flames’ match against Comoros, SuperSport described Malawi defending as aggressive while also playing with confidence, much to the delight of the crowd.
In his own analysis, coach Patrick Mabedi is quoted by Fam.mw as saying his players had proved wrong critics who were against his idea of taking up-and-coming players to the tournament.
“I am a very happy person,” he told Fam.mw. “These are the players that were never given a benefit of a doubt to perform like this. But they have fought hard to reach this stage.
“Look, some of us never made it to this stage in our time. But this generation has done it. They have even surpassed what others achieved at the tournament.”
Zambia hold the most record of title wins — 6 jointly — won with Zimbabwe and aside from their six tournament wins, Zambia have also finished runners-up on six occasions, more than any other nation — four of those runners-up medals came between 2004 and 2009, before they also picked up a silver medal in 2017 and 2018.
They have reached the final in four of the last five tournaments, the odd one out 2021. The Chipolopolo have also reached the semifinals of the COSAFA Cup on the most occasions at 17.
They have made it through to the deciding match in 12 of the 17 matches and Zimbabwe are the next most frequent semifinalists with 12 appearances.
Zambia has played 66 matches played in the history of the COSAFA Cup and they are the inaugural champions attained in 1997 – winning it back-to-back in 1998.—Additional info by SuperSport
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