COSAFA Cup 2024:

There were a pair of goalless draws in the two HOLLYWOODBETS COSAFA Cup 2024 Group A matches played at the Isaac Wolfson Stadium on Saturday, but no shortage of entertainment for the sizeable crowd that came out to watch in the sunshine.

The twelve participating teams were drawn into three groups of four teams. As the defending champions, Zambia and the next two highest ranked teams, Angola and South Africa, were in separate groups as the seeded teams. Group winners and the best runner-up will move on to the semi-finals.

Dates

Originally scheduled to be held 14 to 23 June 2024, the competition has been postponed, most likely until July 2024. At the time the date change was announced, nations had already begun naming their squads and leagues had altered their season schedules to accommodate the tournament. COSAFA stated that the postponement was necessarily to give the competition maximum exposure, presumably because of a number of high-profile competitions that would have been taking place at the same time. On 13 June 2024, COSAFA announced the tournament would be played from 26 June to 7 July 2024.

Mozambique and Eswatini finished 0-0 in the first game of the day, a fixture in which The Mambas edged the play with 11 goal attempts to six, but could not find the back of the net.

Hosts South Africa and old foes Botswana also could not find a goal between them as they played to an entertaining 0-0 draw in the second match, leaving the pool on a knife-edge going into the final round of games on Tuesday.

All four sides have two points but South Africa top the table by virtue of the Fair Play record with one fewer yellow card than Mozambique.
The group will conclude when South Africa take on Eswatini and Mozambique play Botswana.

The action continues on Sunday at the Isaac Wolfson Stadium with the second round of games in Group B. Entrance will be FREE with tickets for available at the USAVE Kwazakhele adjacent to the stadium on a first come, first served basis.

Guest nation Kenya were impressive as they defeated defending champions Zambia in their opening match and now come up against Comoros with the chance to claim back-to-back successes. The kick-off is at 12h00 CAT.

Zambia will seek to bounce back when they take on old foes Zimbabwe, who were 1-0 winners against Comoros in their first game.

SATURDAY’S RESULTS
Group A – Isaac Wolfson Stadium
Mozambique 0 Eswatini 0 – Recap on FIFA+

South Africa 0 Botswana 0 – Recap on FIFA+


SUNDAY’S FIXTURES
Group B – Isaac Wolfson Stadium
Kenya vs Comoros (KO 12h00; 10h00 GMT) – Watch LIVE!

Zambia vs Zimbabwe (KO 15h00; 13h00 GMT) – Watch LIVE!

GROUP STANDINGS

GROUP APWDLGFGAGDPTS
South Africa20201102*
Mozambique20201102
Botswana20200002
Eswatini20200002

* South Africa top the group via Fair Play points

GROUP BPWDLGFGAGDPTS
Kenya11002023
Zimbabwe11001013
Comoros100101-10
Zambia100102-20
GROUP CPWDLGFGAGDPTS
Lesotho10101101
Seychelles10101101
Angola10100001
Namibia10100001

TOURNAMENT STATS
Matches Played: 8
Goals scored: 7
Biggest victory: Zambia 0 Kenya 2 (Group B, June 27)
Most goals in a game: 2 – South Africa 1 Mozambique 1 (Group A, June 26); Zambia 0 Kenya 2 (Group B, June 27)

Another defeat will see Chipolopolo out of contention for top spot in the pool, with only the leading team in each group earning a place in the semifinals along with the best placed runner-up across the three pools.

Zambia and Zimbabwe have a long and rich history of clashes against one another, including in the COSAFA Cup.

They have met nine times before in the competition, with Zimbabwe leading the head-to-head 4-2 and three matches drawn.

That includes five meetings in the final, four of which were won by Zimbabwe, with Zambia’s single success on home soil in 2013.

It has the potential to be a COSAFA Cup classic given what is at stake for both teams.