By Carlos Kambaekwa
WINDHOEK
As widely expected, Malawi confirmed their place in the semifinals of the maiden edition of the annual Confederation of Southern African Football Associations (COSAFA) under-17 tournament under way in the capital.
The infant Flames defeated the relatively young and inexperienced Lesotho outfit by 4 goals to nil in the play-off for the second best-placed team deriving from the three groups in the competition, at the Sam Nujoma Stadium in Windhoek yesterday.
Lesotho needed a win to propel them to the semifinals of the eight-day tourney while the Malawians only needed a draw to reach the knockout stages of the 10-nation tournament.
After a goalless first half, defender Zasha Mnongoneza put Malawi ahead 5 minutes into the second half.
Four minutes later, Andy Sumukonda killed off any hopes the boys from the mountain kingdom might have entertained of coming back into the picture when he neatly placed the ball into a vacant net to open the floodgates.
Two late goals via the boots of Watson Kandulu and Lawrence Milanzi put the result beyond any doubts as Malawi cruised to a well-deserved victory to book a date with Group A winners South Africa’s Amajimbos in the first semifinal at the Sam Nujoma Stadium later today at 16h00.
Group B victors Zambia confront Group C winners Zimbabwe in what promises to be a real humdinger in the second semifinal at the same venue at 18h00.
A fuming Lesotho’s coach Kananelo Moletsane blasted some nations in the region for their apparent greed for glory by fielding over-aged players.
“Most of these countries just want to win at all costs at the expense of development,” said Moletsane.
“We are building a team for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa and are eager to develop a decent pool of players that can go all the way and challenge for a place in the finals of the global showpiece.”
“My brother, if you honestly look at the composition of our team, you will notice that we have three boys under the age of 14 and two 16-year-olds while the rest are between 14 and 15, which only augurs well for our Vision 2010,” added the 30-year-old mentor.
Moletsane also applauded the local organizing committee (LOC) for their flawless handling of many of the main tasks at hand such as accreditation, first class accommodation and meals as well the hospitality of the local folk.
His Malawian counterpart John Felix Kaputa could not contain his joy over the red carpet treatment meted out to them upon their arrival and reckoned Namibia has the required infrastructure and organizational acumen to host bigger events in the not too distant future.
The Malawians are boasting an impressive record of 11 goals in just 270 minutes of play and have just conceded two in the round robin stages of the tournament.
“That’s water under the bridge and we will now have to focus on our next game against South Africa in the semifinal,” said the articulate Kaputa.
“South Africa remains a closed book to us, as we have not watched them in action because all our group matches were played simultaneously, while they had the luxury of seeing our team in action against Lesotho in the play-off for the second best placed team,” concluded Moletsane.
The third place play-off is scheduled for Friday with the final to be played on Saturday at the Sam Nujoma Stadium.
The “Brave Gladiators”, as the Namibian women’s football team is fondly known at home, will be engaged in the curtain-raiser as they take on Botswana in the second leg of the African Women Championship qualifiers.
Namibia won the first leg 3-nil away in Gaborone a fortnight ago and should have little trouble in booking a date against Nigeria in the next round.