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Lungelo Ndhlovu and Ricky Zililo
NAMIBIA joined Zambia in the semi-finals of the African Union Sports Council Region 5 Youth Games Under-17 boys’ football tournament after playing to a goalless draw with South Africa. Zambia made it through to the last four without dropping a point in their Group B matches while Namibia were second after amassing four points in their three outings.

The Zambians had no mercy for Lesotho who they handed a 0-4 defeat at Barbourfields Stadium yesterday with the crowd enjoying every minute of the game.

Zambia had used Highlanders FC’s fan salutation and that won them support from the locals who had come in their numbers for the encounter.

Patrick Ngoma notched a brace for Zambia getting the opening goal in the 13th minute after being sent through by Robert Musonda and completed his brace on the stroke of fulltime.

Harrison Musonda also got a double getting his name on the score sheet in the 58th and 82nd minutes.

Zambia coach Hector Chilombo was over the moon after the completion of his group games and is confident of going all the way to the final.

“Lesotho were a very good team because they couldn’t allow us to play the ball wide which is part of our style but we managed to break their back coming from the middle. It feels good to be in the semi-finals and we’re here to win medals, with gold being our ultimate target,” said Chilombo.

Zambia and Namibia are now waiting for the top two teams from Group A which has Malawi, Zimbabwe and Angola vying for the two slots.

This afternoon Angola take on winless Swaziland and a victory for the former will secure them a slot in the last four, leaving Zimbabwe and Malawi, who play their game tomorrow, to fight for the remaining one.

Group A Results

Yesterday: Swaziland 1-1 Malawi

Table

P W D L F A GD Pts

Malawi 3 2 1 0 4 2 2 7

Zimbabwe 3 1 2 0 3 2 1 5

Angola 3 1 1 1 3 2 1 4

Mozambique 4 1 1 2 4 6 -2 4

Swaziland 3 0 1 2 2 4 -2 1

Fixtures

Today: Swaziland v Angola (Luveve, 3.30PM)

Tomorrow: Zimbabwe v Malawi (Barbourfields, 3.30PM)

Group B Results

Yesterday: South Africa 0-0 Namibia, Zambia 4-0 Lesotho.

Table

P W D L F A GD Pts

*Zambia 3 3 0 0 12 1 7 9

*Namibia 3 1 1 1 1 2 -1 4

Lesotho 3 1 0 2 3 6 -3 3

South Africa 3 0 1 2 2 9 -7 1

*Qualified for the semi-finals