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Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter
Kenya 1-0 Swaziland
THE Mighty Warriors sneaked into the semi-finals of the Cosafa Women’s Championship as the best runners-up following Kenya’s win over Swaziland in the final Group B match played at Barbourfields Stadium yesterday.

Kenya eliminated Swaziland from the tournament to qualify for the semi-finals as the only team to have won all their three group matches.

The East Africans needed an injury time strike by Florence Awino to maintain their 100 percent record. The Kenyan striker got to the end of a long pass from Phoeby Owiti, turned and fired past an outstretched Sukoluhle Sibandze, sending Zimbabwean fans at Barbourfields into a frenzy.

Kenya coach, Richard Kanyi, was happy with his team’s performance.

“It was a very tactical game where both teams wanted to win. Swaziland are very fast; their wing play is very impressive, so we had to contain them and we did that well. We squandered a lot of chances and have to work on our finishing ahead of our next game,” said Kanyi.

Kenya face Zimbabwe in Thursday’s semi-finals, with South Africa and Zambia set to battle it out for the other final ticket.

Swaziland went into yesterday’s match needing a win to secure the last semi-final ticket as Group B leaders ahead of Kenya, who had already secured a semi-final berth going into their final group game.

Kenya went into yesterday’s match with six points, while Swaziland had four points.

Zimbabwe, who amassed five points to become the best runners-up, had their road to the semi-finals also worked for them by Lesotho, who beat Namibia 2-1 on Sunday. South Africa also did the hosts a favour on Sunday when they drew 1-1 against Botswana, who finished second in Group C with four points.

In yesterday’s match, Kenya were impressive from the first whistle, stringing together some neat passes in the middle.  Despite dominating possession, they showed little attacking intent, with the team comfortable with just passing the ball around, to the frustration of the largely Zimbabwean crowd that was urging the East Africans to score.

The second half saw Kenya turn their neat passing into meaningful attacks, with striker Owiti testing Swazi goalkeeper Sibandze with a weak shot.

A combination of poor finishing for Kenya and great saves by Sibandze kept Swaziland in the game.

Swaziland finished the game a player down after Celiwe Nkambule was sent off for a reckless tackle on Kenyan midfielder Pauline Msungu just after the hour mark.

Cheris Avila thought she had found the opener for Kenya in the 79th minute when her shot hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced over the line, but the referee did not give the goal.

It was a nervous finish to the game for the Zimbabwean faithful rooting for Kenya, as Swaziland threw players forward and created a few chances of their own.

A few seconds into injury time, Awino then struck, clearing Zimbabwe’s passage into the semi-finals.

Despite being knocked out of the tournament, Swaziland coach Mduduzi Nxumalo said they were bowing out of the competition with their heads high.

Results and tables

Group A
Zambia 6-3 Malawi, Zimbabwe 4-0 Madagascar, Madagascar 3-6 Malawi, Zimbabwe 1-1 Zambia, Zambia 7-1 Madagascar, Zimbabwe 3-3 Malawi

P     W     D     L     F     A     GD     Pts
Zambia     3     2     1     0     14     5     9     7
Zimbabwe     3     1     2     0     8     4     4     5
Malawi     3     1     1     1     12     12     0     4
Madagascar     3     0     0     3     4     17     -13    0

Group B
Mauritius 0-3 Swaziland, Kenya 5-2 Mozambique, Kenya 11-0 Mauritius, Mozambique 2-2 Swaziland, Kenya 1-0 Swaziland, Mauritius 0-3 Mozambique

P     W     D     L     F     A     GD     Pts
Kenya     3     3     0     0     17     2     15     9
Swaziland     3     1     1     1     5     3     2     4
Mozambique     3     1     1     1     7     7     0     4
Mauritius     3     0     0     3     0     17     -17     0

Group C
Namibia 4-0 Botswana, South Africa 3-0 Lesotho, South Africa 3-1 Namibia, Lesotho 0-3 Botswana, Namibia 1-2 Lesotho, South Africa 1-1 Botswana

P     W     D     L     F     A     GD     Pts
South Africa     3     2     1     0     7     2     5     7
Botswana     3     1     1     1     4     6     -2     4
Namibia     3     1     0     2     6     5     1     3
Lesotho     3     1     0     2     2     7     -5     3

@innocentskizoe