The 2018 Mopani Copper Mines Cosafa U20 Championship enters the semi-final brackets today (Tuesday) with hosts Zambia engaging Zimbabwe while defending champions South Africa take on Angola.
Zambia has had a decent outing thus far having defeated Malawi and the Democratic Republic of Congo by 2-0 scorelines before drawing 1-1 with Mozambique to top Group A on seven points.
In Zimbabwe the host nation will face some formidable opposition that qualified to the semifinals with a game to spare.
Zimbabwe saw off Botswana through a 2-1 result before dispatching Lesotho 4-0 and suffered a 4-1 loss to Angola.
Coach Charles Bwale is without the injured England based Mwiya Malumo but will have enough armoury to fill that void in today’s game.
Skipper Edward Chilufya will have to lead from the front alongside the likes of Lameck Banda while Klings Kangwa may return to the starting eleven after Malumo’s injury.
In midfield the impressive Benson Kolala and the inspirational Prince Mumba will have to step up and pull the strings in the middle of the pack.
At the back Christopher Katongo and Kingsley Hakwiya will have to be steadier as they have occasionally looked out of sorts under pressure in previous games while the rampaging Andrew Phiri and Gideon Miyanda will complete the backline.
In goal Bradley Mweene will be expected to retain his place.
In the 13:00 hours kickoff South Africa takes on Angola at Nkana Stadium in another potentially explosive fixture.
Zambia takes to the field at 15:30 hours at the same venue with the games live on Kwese TV and ZNBC.
Charges are pegged at K20 open wing and K50 VIP.
Winners of today’s matches will square off in the final on Thursday at Nkana Stadium/FAZ.
