COSAFA U17S: ZAMBIA OUT, ZIM FOR ESWATINI

MBABANE – Eswatini retained two of their rivals but Zambia and Mauritius in the new COSAFA Under-17 Youth Championships 2021 draw held yesterday in host nation, Lesotho, Maseru.

Lesotho, who are hosts for the first time and Madagascar, were retained while late tournament entrants and 2007 champions, Zimbabwe also found themselves in group A as well. Due to the change of format from two pools of five teams each to three pools with two having four teams and one having three, Eswatini will now fight it out against the aforementioned team. Only the top teams per group will advance to the semi-finals after the group round-robin of games with the best number two of the three groups also joining in as the fourth team.

The competition resumes on December 1-10 and will be played also as part of the 2020 Region Five Youth Games. Group B comprises defending champions South Africa, Angola, Botswana and Mauritius in what is a tough group while group C has three teams in last runners-up Zambia, Malawi and Seychelles. “We’ve seen the draw but I’m yet to confirm it with COSAFA otherwise the squad’s coach Edwin is also one well positioned to comment on the technical part as he’s the squad’s coach,” Eswatini Football Association (EFA) Marketing and Communications Officer Muzi Radebe.

He had also confirmed that the squad had already begun preparations for the December games as it has played two international friendlies including against Lesotho. Efforts to get Edwin Matsebula, the Royal Leopard coach whose team just got dumped out of the TOTALEnergies Champions League 2021/22 by Angola’s Grupo Desportivo Sagrada Esperanca, were in vain. His cellphone rang unanswered when sought.

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