Amajita defend Cosafa Cup title
South Africa defended their Cosafa Under-20 Championship title as they beat Zimbabwe 4-3 on penalties in the final of the tournament in Kitwe, Zambia on Thursday afternoon.
South Africa celebrate winning the 2018 COSAFA U20 Championship during the 2018 COSAFA U20 Championship Final Football Match between South Africa and Zimbabwe at Nkana Stadium in Kitwe on 13 December 2018 ©Chris Ricco/BackpagePix
Goalkeeper Khulekani Kubheka pulled off two brilliant saves in the penalty shootout to see the South Africans home after the match ended 1-1 after 90 minutes.
After a goalless first half in which Zimbabwe defended deep in allowing the South Africans to run at them, the men from Harare opened the scoring in the 64th minute through a defensive backpass error by the SA side.
Zimbabwe’s Delic Murimba managed to get to the ball and chip it home over the advancing Kubheka.
Ten minutes later, Zimbabwe were forced to substitute goalkeeper Tinotenda Ali for reserve gloveman Frank Kuchineyi and the replacement made a major error in punching the ball back into play for SA to score, only for the goal to be ruled offside.
SA managed to grab the equaliser in the 85th minute when Orlando Pirates attacker Lyle Foster scored his fifth goal of the tournament, after some fine work on the left from Promise Mkhuma. Mkhuma was deservedly named as the Player of the Tournament.
This was the seventh time that SA has won the Cosafa Under-20 title, but the first time that they were able to defend the trophy, having beaten Lesotho 2-1 in last year’s final.
Zimbabwean goalkeeper Ali was awarded the Goalkeeper of the Tournament award, with the day’s goals-corers in Murimba and Foster, finishing as the leading scorers in the competition.
For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.
