Lesotho to meet South Africa in 2017 COSAFA Under-20 final

Lesotho will South Africa after beating Uganda in pouring rain...

Lesotho will play South Africa in the final of the 2017 Mopani Copper Mines COSAFA Under-20 Championships on Saturday after downing Uganda 6-5 on penalties in the semi-finals.

Leslie Notši’s charges will be looking to win the country’s first-ever international tournament at any level.

It will be the Makoanyane XI’s third appearance in the final previous appearances in 1990 and 2005.

Lesotho has reached Saturday’s final on the back of a defence that has only conceded one goal in four games and shone again against Uganda.

The match against Uganda was played in bucketing rain at the Nkana Stadium and was a tense affair with both sides wasting good openings.

For Uganda, the best chances fell to Frank Tumwesigye put a good headed opportunity high and wide while the side’s top marksman Mohammad Shaban was denied from close-range.

At the other end, Lesotho’s top scorer Roboama Koloti shot wildly at the near post after receiving a piercing long pass from Bonang Mohapi.

In the penalty shootout that followed after a goalless 90 minutes both sides scored their first five kicks to take the shoot-out to sudden death where Mujahid Ogama crucially missed for the Ugandans.

Lesotho will now play neighbours South Africa who defeated Egypt 1-0 in a feisty affair thanks to a winner from Luvuyo Mkatshana just before halftime.

South Africa claimed their victory over Egypt despite playing the final 20 minutes with 10 men following the sending off of Lehlogonolo Matlou for a second yellow card. It will be the first time Lesotho and South Africa meet in in a major international final.

Semi-final results:
South Africa 1 (Mkatshana 41’), Egypt 0
Uganda 0, Lesotho 0 (Lesotho won 6-5 on penalties)

On Saturday:
Third-Place play-off (10:30)

Egypt v Uganda – Nkana Stadium

Final (14:00)

South Africa v Lesotho – Nkana Stadium

Group Stage Standings:

Group A

		P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts.
1	Uganda	3	1	2	0	5	3	+2	5
2	Malawi	3	1	2	0	4	3	+1	5
3	Zambia	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	4
4	Swaziland	3	0	1	2	4	7	-3	1

Group B

		P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts.
1	South Africa	3	3	0	0	5	1	+4	9
2	Egypt	3	2	0	1	4	2	+2	6
3	Mozambique	3	1	0	2	2	2	0	3
4	Mauritius	3	0	0	3	0	6	-6	0

Group C

		P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts.
1	Lesotho	3	1	2	0	2	1	+1	5
2	Zimbabwe	3	1	2	0	1	0	+1	5
3	Namibia	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	4
4	Angola	3	0	1	2	0	2	-2	1

Tournament Stats:
Matches Played: 20
Goals scored: 32

Top Goalscorers:

3 goals – Luvuyo Mkatshana (South Africa), Muhammad Shaban (Uganda)

2 goals – Roboama Koloti (Lesotho), Abdelrahman Amr (Egypt), Lyle Foster (South Africa), Order Mamba (Swaziland), Francisco Mwepu (Zambia), Patrick Phiri (Malawi), Muzi Tsabedze (Swaziland)

1 goals – Hussein Abdelkader (Egypt), Peter Banda (Malawi), Kamo-Kamo Cumbane (Mozambique), Romario Hawiseb (Namibia), Domingos Junior (Mozambique), Mohamed Karem (Egypt), Francisco Madinga (Malawi), Stephen Mukwala (Uganda), Enzo Mungendje (Namibia), King Nasama (Zimbabwe), Nkosingiphile Ngcobo (South Africa), Allan Okello (Uganda)