Bafana, Chipolopolo renew rivalry

South Africa and Zambia will renew their rivalry when they meet in the second semifinal of the Cosafa Cup, set for the King Zwelithini Stadium in Durban on the evening of Friday 14 July 2023.

Kick-off is at 6pm CAT, and follows the first semifinal at the same venue between Malawi and Lesotho.

South Africa earned their place in the semis by finishing top of group A, securing pole position with a dramatic 2-1 win over Eswatini earlier in the week – with substitute Tshegofatso Mabasa scoring two late goals to seal a come-from-behind triumph.

“Really, we had to dig deep, it was not an easy game,” said coach Morena Ramoreboli, who led Bafana Bafana to their most recent Cosafa Cup title in 2021.

He added, “I want to give credit to the technical team and the players for their resilience, it was not easy but they kept on fighting and the fighting spirit kept us here. We are going to the semifinal, and we will also fight.

“We are dividing these matches: the last match [against Botswana] we said we are playing for ourselves; this match [against Eswatini] we are playing for our families; and then we are going to play for the South African Football Association in the next match [semifinal]; and play for the nation in the final.”

Zambia, meanwhile, sneaked into the semis by being the top-ranked runner-up. They were beaten to the top spot of group B by Malawi, but their haul of six points was superior to Botswana (group A, four points) and Angola (group C, four points).

Chipolopolo are fresh from a 4-2 thrashing of the Seychelles in which Albert Kangwanda, Killiam Kanguluma, Golden Mashata and Fredrick Mulambia found the back of the net.

“It’s a good thing and I must say we knew we would make it because we scored four goals. I hope the boys understood the things we talked about before our training session,” said coach Moses Sichone.

“We are playing South Africa, it’s going to be a good game so all that I can say is we’re going to prepare the team mentally and we hope to reach the final.”

He added, “I would say this is a double motivation because South Africa has the fans, the players should be ready to do more and make our fans happy.”

In head-to-head stats, South Africa and Zambia have met in 23 matches dating back as far as 1992. Each side has claimed nine wins, while five games have been drawn. The teams last met in the group stage of the 2021 edition of the Cosafa Cup, playing to a 0-0 draw at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth.