BY GODFREY DUBE –
Malawi 0 Zambia 2
‘OUR mission is to bring the COSAFA Cup to Zambia’, were the words of Zambia under-17 assistant coach Charles Bwalya after his boys dismantled a resolute Malawi to book a final date with Mauritius tomorrow.
Going into the game, Malawi was not just undefeated in this tournament but had also not conceded a goal.
But within seven minutes of this game, they were down 2-0 to a Martin Njobvudouble, a deficit they never recovered from despite dominating play with 77 per cent possession in the first half of this semi-final at the Stade St Francois Xavier.
Zambia will meet hosts Mauritius who beat South Africa 2-0 toprogress to the finals of the tournament tomorrow July 28.
Bwale said the team’s mission is todeliver the trophy to Zambia as earlier promised.
He said despite the fine run this far, his charges still had unfinished business and the target remained to deliver the trophy to the football-mad Zambian football fans.
“Malawi is a good team and they gave us a good run, we did ourpreparations well and it worked as planned, we capitalised on theerrors made by the defenders and we got a win,” Bwale said.
Bwale has since urged his players not to relax but shift focusto tomorrow’s final.
“Our target is to win the tournament, we still have unfinishedbusiness with Mauritius and we have a lot of home work to do, we camehere to collect the cup, the game won’t beeasy we know but we just have to win,” he said.
And Malawi coach Deklerk Msakakuona said Zambia deserved to win thetitle as they had shown good footballing skills in thetournament.
Msakakuona said Zambia was tactically and physically strong throughoutthe game adding the strikers really mean business in each game.
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