MAMMOTH TASK FOR U-20S IN COSAFA CHAMPIONSHIPS

MBABANE – The National Under-20 squad faces a mammoth task if they are to win the 2016 COSAFA Under-20 Championships for the first time.

They will be up against 13 countries in the tournament that is scheduled for North West Province, South Africa from December 7-16. This year’s edition is sponsored by PPC.

The countries that have confirmed their participation include hosts South Africa, Swaziland, Botswana, Lesotho, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Mauritius, Rwanda, Malawi, Comoros, Angola, and Seychelles.
It will be the first time the Under-20 tournament has been run since 2013, when South Africa claimed the title with a 2-0 victory over Kenya in the final.

According to information from the COSAFA website, the pool phase of the competition will feature four groups – two of which will have four teams, and two with three sides.
South Africa have already been handed position A1 in Group A as hosts, while Angola will be in position C1 in Group C.

The other top seeds, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, will be drawn into either B1 or D1, the two pools that have three teams each.
Pot 1 draw will contain the next highest-ranked five sides – Namibia, Lesotho, Comoros, Botswana and Zambia – while Pot 2 has Rwanda, Malawi, Swaziland, Mauritius and Seychelles.
The first four teams drawn from Pot 1 will take up the second positions in Groups A-D, while the first four teams from Pot 2 will take up the third positions in the pools.

That will leave two teams remaining in the pots and these will be randomly drawn into Groups A and C, the two pools that have four teams.
The teams will play each other in a round-robin format with the top side from each pool advancing to the semi-finals.

The top two teams in Groups B and D after the second round of matches will play a third match as a crossover game between those two pools, to ensure that most competing sides get to play three times.
The top team in Group B will play the second team in Group D and vice-versa.
The matches will be played at two venues, the Mogwase Stadium and Moruleng Stadium.   

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: