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LESOTHO and Zambia secured their semi-final places in the 2018 Cosafa Cup on Saturday with hard-fought victories at the New Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane.

Lesotho edged Swaziland 1-0 in their quarter-final, while Zambia needed penalties to see off Namibia, who had the better of the chances in a fixture that finished 0-0. The losing sides will move into the Plate competition semi-finals tomorrow.

It was a day with just a single of goal, but both games provided rich entertainment, if perhaps not the required level of finishing.

Swaziland were the more vaunted team going into their tussle and had chances to win it, but were stung by a fine strike from substitute Motebang Sera after 70 minutes of their encounter.

Zambia edged Namibia 4-3 on penalties after an evenly contested 90 minutes that was perhaps just shaded by the Brave Warriors.

Vitapi Ngaruka had an early opportunity for Namibia, but put his shot wide from the edge of the box, while at the other end prolific Zambian forward Lazarous Kambole found himself through on goal, but also missed the target.

Dynamo Fredericks then blazed wide from inside the box before Kelvin Mubanga launched a vicious shot at the Namibian goal that was well saved by Brave Warriors gloveman Maximilian Mbaeva.

Neither side could find a winner and the match went straight to penalties at full-time, where Zambia held their nerve to progress to the semi-final.

Saturday results
Quarter-finals: Zambia 0-0 Namibia (Zambia win 4-3 on penalties)
Lesotho 1-0 Swaziland

Table

Group A        P    W    D    L    GF    GA    Pts
Madagascar        3    2    1    0    4    2    7
Mozambique        3    2    0    1    6    3    6

Seychelles        3    0    2    1    3    4    2
Comoros Islands        3    0    1    2    1    5    1

Group B        P    W    D    L    GF    GA    Pts
Botswana        3    2    1    0    9    2    7
Angola        3    1    1    1    2    2    4
Mauritius        3    1    0    2    1    7    3
Malawi        3    0    2    1    1    2    2
— Cosafa