Zambia win 2019 U-17 Cosafa title on Malawi soil

Zambia won the 2019 Cosafa men’s Under-17 championship on Sunday after a 2-0 win over Mozambique in the final at Mpira Stadium in Blantyre.

The Junior Chipolopolo who last won the trophy in 2017 and were reduced to ten men in the second half relied on the goals scored by ‘Man of the Match’ Joseph Banda and Rickson Ng’ambi respectively.

The two teams shared the ball possession affairs  in the first half and created only three scoring opportunities each  but  failed to find the net.

Speaking in a post match interview Zambian coach   Osward Mukuka Mutapa hailed his boys for putting up a gallant fight  more especially in the final game where he said they worked very hard and dominated the possession although they were only ten.

“Almost every coach who was here including myself had a mission of becoming the champion  so I’m very much excited for clinching the cup. It wasn’t easy to beat Mozambique because it is also a good side and that’s why we even shared possession in the first half but because my boys were physically fit and quick on the ball, that helped us  a lot,” said Mutapa.

His counterpart  Victor Jose Matine congratulated Zambia for lifting the cup which he said  they missed it   because his boys lost concentration in the second half.

“Honestly, Zambia made a good plan than us in the second half  that’s why they have managed to beat us but r I’m proud of my boys for their fighting spirit and for the
great improvement, they tried their level best but it seems the daywasn’t ours,” said Matine.

Meanwhile the Cosafa U-17 2018 winners Angola have finished on thirdplace after beating Eswatini 5 nil.

After the tournament  Zambian attacker Moses Mulenga was voted as the player of the tournament while his goalkeeper Iford Mwale was named the ‘Golden Glove’ award winner.

On the golden boot award category Valdemiro Domingo’s of Angola, Zambian Dickson Ng’ambi and Simon Cipriano of Mocambique shared the award after scoring 5 goals each in the tournament.

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