U-17S ‘GIYA’ TO COSAFA SEMIS

South Africa...............(0) 1
Thabang Modise 67th
Eswatini......................(1) 1
Mpendulo Makhanya 41st

MBABANE – History is in the making for the country’s junior national under-17 team led by Moneni Pirates head coach Gcina ‘Magiyane’ Dlamini – they are in the COSAFA Men’s Under-17 Championships semi-finals.

The tournament is hosted by Malawi this year in Blantyre. Eswatini made it to the semis of the tournament for the second time since 2001. This, after a draw with South Africa’s Amajimbos and an important 2-3 defeat of Malawi by Zambia – which worked in Magiyane’s team’s favour.

Eswatini finished as the runners-up of Group B with four points while Zambia topped with nine after winning all their group games. The semi-finals are billed for tomorrow at 11am and the winner will meet either Zambia or Angola in the final. The semis will be played inside the Mpiri Stadium.

Meanwhile,  Eswatini’s goal came via the boot of Mpendulo Makhanya four minutes before the break. The first half saw both teams creating few chances but Eswatini capitalised towards the end of the first half to take the lead.

pressure

The second half saw both teams pushing forward with the trailing side piling more pressure.
They eventually grabbed an equaliser through Thabang Mahlangu, whose fierce 30-yard drive found its way into the back of the net but the locals were able to hold onto the game until the end. 

Magiyane said after their defeat in the opening game against Zambia, they made the midfield to be compact and minimised space for the rivals to make short passes.

Noteworthy, is that Amajimbos had a bad tournament and finished this game one man short as their goalscorer was given a red card later on. South Africa, who had a poor showing in the tournament, finished the game with 10-men after their goal-scorer was shown a red card.

Meanwhile, Mozambique reached the semi-finals having finished first in their group with seven points while Angola was second. Eliminated countries from the tournament are Malawi, South Africa, Comoros and Lesotho.

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