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Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Under-20 national team is through to the semi-finals of the Mopani Cosafa Under-20 championship in Zambia with a game to spare after Angola and Botswana played to a goalless draw yesterday.

Coach Bekithemba “Super” Ndlovu has the luxury of even losing the last Group C game against Angola on Sunday and still go through.

Angola are on two points and will take their overall points tally to five if they beat Zimbabwe, while Lesotho or Botswana can only end on four points.

An elated Zifa vice-president Omega Sibanda, who superintends national teams, described the qualification as a manifestation of Zifa’s shrewd administrative policies.

“The journey has not been easy. It has been rocky because we took some decisions which were painful to some people, but we knew that our core business was to have successful national teams. It was difficult to make people buy into our vision, but now the results are slowly but surely coming out in the open.
This is a true testimony of what we have been doing and we say congratulations to the entire Under-20 technical team,” said Sibanda.

He said they remained confident the boys will bring the Cosafa trophy home to emulate their senior counterparts, who have bossed everyone in the region.

“The Warriors are on course to qualify for the Total Afcon finals and we want these future Warriors to also emulate their brothers and win the Cosafa Under-20 title,” said Sibanda.

Zimbabwe began their charge with a 2-1 win over Bostwana on Monday before clobbering last year’s finalists Lesotho 4-0 on Wednesday.

Zimbabwe have not enjoyed success in the last two editions of the Cosafa Under-20 Championships, winning only one of their five matches and bowing out in the first round on both occasions. The Young Warriors will meet Group A winners in the semi-final on Tuesday for a place in the final three days later.

Table
Group C
P W D L GF GA GD Pts
Zimbabwe 2 2 0 0 6 1 +5 6

Angola 2 0 2 0 1 1 0 2

Lesotho 2 0 1 1 1 5 -4 1

Botswana 2 0 1 1 1 2 -1 1