COSAFA Women's Championship 2020

"Await for decision..."? They mean that a way to determine the best runner-up hadn't been decided in advance?

 

I guessed that Cosafa just forgot to announce it, what with planning an international tournament during a pandemic, but the previous day's match report was a little confusing about the runners-up. (They chose the 'Uefa-style' system, so only the top 3 teams' games counted in any group.)

One definite change is the semi-final arrangement. The two group B rivals would have been drawn to play each other again immediately (as in 2019), but that has been avoided. Nice to see both Malawi and Botswana in the mix - each team's best finish in past years was 4th place.

Thursday:
12-Nov Botswana vs Zambia 10:00 GMT Wolfson Stadium
12-Nov South Africa vs Malawi 13:30 GMT Wolfson Stadium

As with every game, those will be live on cosafa.tv, which has a few group game videos too (may require extra clicks)

Zambia 0 - 1 Malawi - Temwa Chawinga 31'
Highlights / Full match
- Matchday report: Cosafa.com (Archive)

U17s: They're in action again today, Tuesday - the Comoros are holding on against the group leaders. Zambia are winning 3-0 near the end, in a game they won last year 15-0! The main difference is, again, the Comoros goalkeeper Amina Ben Ali, who has saved two penalties, but her teammates have also played in a rough but effective way to hurry the Zambians into wasting chances. Nice third goal by substitute Bupe Banda (no relation!). Later is Tanzania's last group game, against Zimbabwe - a TZ win would put them into the final.

 

Oh, ok: their previous tweet gave the impression that they were going to decide on the spur of the moment, but it likely was just a communication problem instead!

It's anyway a shame that Malawi gets South Africa, i.e. probably the tougher opponent. I think that South Africa-Malawi would have made for a so compelling final match!

 

First semi-final, Botswana v Zambia, is about to kick off.

Later, South Africa and Malawi will clash - the news previewed the game, with SA boss Desiree Ellis and Malawi's Abel Mkandawire:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWAkn9m2CXI

 

Wow, the goals were incredibly late for a game where a team had the GK sent-off after 20 minutes!

 

I guess they subbed a field player out and replaced her with a goalkeeper.

 

Of course, by they had anyway to play 70' minutes in 10 vs 11 and with a reserve goalkeeper (supposedly sub-optimal compared to the starting GK: especially with minor countries, the chance that the quality dramatically drops down when you have to recur to bench-player is significant).

 

(Ngrund, cc-by-sa)​

Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium is hosting today's two finals! First, some highlights from the senior semi-finals:

Botswana 2 - 1 Zambia
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOhK8GWkk0U

South Africa 6 - 2 Malawi
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRIasw6FIyM

- Matchday report is on Cosafa.com, with the table & schedule

Unlike in other years, there's no 3rd-place game, but Malawi can be satisfied that they had their best ever tournament and were the No.3 team over Zambia, after beating the Copper Queens in their group.

The top scorers so far, 7 goals each, are Tabitha Chawinga (Malawi) and Sibulele Holweni (South Africa).

U17s - the final is about to start. The young Zambians won all four round-robin games, but Tanzania can still keep the title out of southern Africa after Uganda won last year. Their original meeting was 2-1 for Zambia eight days ago.
This game is live online here, and on Supersport in South Africa.

The senior final, South Africa v Botswana, sees the six-time champions against a team in its first final. It's also apparently streaming online here at 13:00 GMT.

​

 

After watching the first South African goal I think that your judgement about the reserve goalkeeper is correct.

 

You think the reserve gk should be almost as good as the starter. What she do wrong? Haven't watched it so don't know how was the gk.

 

Boom

The U17s from Uganda and now Tanzania take the trophy away! COSAFA's honoured young guests from CECAFA have turned into some kind of Trojan horse.

Botswana and South Africa are lining up now, it's live
(They had given 2 kickoff times; apparently 13:30 GMT was the right one)

 

Wow, all the goals were very well covered by these highlights, with replays from multiple angles for each.

 

The final:​

Banyana retain COSAFA Women's Championship title - (SABC News)


- Match report: Goal.com (Archive)
- Finals report & stats: "South Africa win COSAFA Women’s Championship, Tanzania take Under-17 title", Cosafa.com (Archive)

"South African speedster Hildah Magaia was named Player of the Tournament [seniors] for a number of industrious displays in which she was both a goal-scorer and provider of assists, and central to her team’s success.
"Her compatriot Sibulele Holweni won the Golden Boot after scoring eight goals, while the Golden Glove went to Botswana goalkeeper Maitumelo Bosija. Eswatini claimed the Fair Play award." - (Cosafa)

​