12 participating teams: Zimbabwe(hosts), Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland & Zambia. Kenya is participating as a guest and is not a member of COSAFA. Not participating: Angola, Comoros & Seychelles. Tournament runs September 13-24, 2017. GROUP A: Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi & Madagascar. GROUP B: Mauritius, Mozambique, Kenya & Swaziland. GROUP C: South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana & Namibia. Group winners & best runner-up advance to semifinals.
Is those FIFA dates? I know Malawi called in all their Europa based players, and half if them plays in Sweden (her name is Tabitha Chawinga), and since she is leading the league in goals and her team is fighting relegation I am sure they hate to let her go.
Tournament started today. GROUP A Zambia 6 - Malawi 3 Zimbabwe 4 - Madagascar 0 GROUP C Namibia 4 - Botswana 0 Tomorrow's matches GROUP B Mauritius vs. Swaziland Kenya vs. Mozambique GROUP C South Africa vs. Lesotho
TODAY GROUP B Swaziland 3 - Mauritius 0 Kenya 5 - Mozambique 2 GROUP C South Africa 3 - Lesotho 0 Tomorrow's matches GROUP A Madagascar vs. Malawi Zimbabwe vs. Zambia GROUP C South Africa vs. Botswana
TODAY GROUP A Malawi 6 - Madagascar 3 Zimbabwe 1 - Zambia 1 GROUP C South Africa 3 - Namibia 1 Tomorrow's matches: GROUP B Kenya vs. Mauritius Swaziland vs. Mozambique GROUP C Lesotho vs. Botswana
Malawis goal production is so far a pure Chawinga production with Sweden bases Tabitha scoring seven and her little sister Tenwa the teams other two.
TODAY GROUP A Zambia 7 Madagascar 1 Zimbabwe 3 - Malawi 3 Zambia wins group and advances to semis. GROUP B Botswana 1 - South Africa 1 Lesotho 2 - Namibia 1 South Africa wins group and advances to semis. Zimbabwe likely to advance to semis as best runner-up unless Swaziland upsets Kenya tomorrow in Group B.
I am a sucker for this kind of "super-woman-leads-a-subpar-team-to-victory" stories. In this case, she couldn't actually lead them to victory, but I would be anyway curious to know if Chawinga sisters scored again today.
Yes, Tenwa scored the first Malawi goal (2-1) and Tabitha the other two (3-2, and 3-3) the last in the 89 minute, when Zimbawe and Malawi tied 3-3. Rutendo Makore did a hat-trick for Zimbawe. http://www.cosafa.com/live-zimbabwe-vs-malawi-14h00-local-12h00-gmt/ I think Makore have made all 8 of Zimbawes goals so far.
It seems very likely they will, since if Kenya (ranked 114) loses they will reach semifinals as the best 2nd placed team and meet the winner of group B which will in that case be Swaziland (unranked) but if Kenya take a point or more against Swaziland then Kenya will win group B and play Zimbabwe (ranked 83 and on homefield) that then is the best 2nd placed team. SEMIFINALS September 21 (Barbourfields Stadium) 13h00 Winner Group A vs Winner Group C 15h00 Winner Group B vs Best Runner-Up
YESTERDAY GROUP B Kenya 1 - Swaziland 0 Mozambique 3 - Mauritius 0 SEMIS Sept. 21 Zambia vs. South Africa Kenya vs. Zimbabwe Ranking of teams 5-12 5. Swaziland 1-1-1 [+2] 6. Malawi 1-1-1 [0] 7. Mozambique 1-1-1 [0] 8. Botswana 1-1-1 [-1] 9. Namibia 1-0-2 [+1] 10. Lesotho 1-0-2 [-5] 11. Madagascar 0-0-3 [-13] 12. Mauritius 0-0-3 [-17]
TODAY SEMIFINALS South Africa 3 - Zambia 3 (RSA wins 5-3 on PKs) Zimbabwe 4 - Kenya 0 Sept. 23 THIRD PLACE Kenya vs. Zambia Sept. 24 FINAL South Africa vs. Zimbabwe
I'm not surprised RSA is in the finals at all, but I'm definitely surprised both of their last two games have been draws! They're normally a top-four nation in Africa overall.