South Africa U20 beat Zambia U20 4-2 in the semi-finals of the COSAFA U20 Championship on Thursday, a match that lived up to the billing of two teams sitting level at the top of the standings before kickoff. Both sides had won all three group games, nine points each, and by then the pressure was clearly on whoever could find the breakthrough first.
Duncan gave the hosts the lead in the twenty-eighth minute, and then things came to a head when S. Mendes converted a penalty sixty-two minutes in to level matters. Qarabile restored South Africa's advantage just two minutes later, and here's the thing: you could feel the momentum shifting back and forth with every attack.
J. Kalimina pulled Zambia level again in the seventy-fifth minute, only for the game to turn dramatic when he was sent off eighty-three minutes in. Mendes made no mistake from the spot eighty-four minutes in, and then Emile ran riot with a late strike at the death to seal it for South Africa.
Both teams enter this semi-final knowing that one result will send them through, and by the final whistle the hosts had done enough to keep their side in it. The goal difference may matter, but at this stage you don't need to look past the scoreline to see who came out on top.
South Africa now carry three straight wins into the final, while Zambia's unbeaten run has been halted. Both sides still sit on nine points heading into the decisive encounter, and the wheels came off for the visitors when Kalimina's dismissal changed everything.
