By Etienne Mainimo Mengnjo,
The indomitable Lionesses of Cameroon will take on the Zambian selection in the semi-finals of the ongoing Women 2018 South African Football Association Council (COSAFA) Women’s Football Friendly Tournament in South Africa.
The match slated to take place on September 20, 2018 will be staged at the Wolfson Stadium. The two countries qualified on Tuesday September 18 after beating their opponents in their last group matches.
Cameroon thrashed Lesotho 6-0 at the Westbourne Oval stadium. Team captain Madeleine Ngono Mani scored a brace of goals to go with strikes from Eliane Bodolo, Edith Ngo Mbeleck, Claudy Ychadeu and Catherine Mbengono as Cameroon proved far too strong for their opponents.
On their part, Zambia recorded their third successive victory after edging Mozambique female football team 3-0. Zambia found the going a little heavier against Mozambique in their final pool game but but goals from Rachel Nachula, Mary Mwakapila and skipper Barbra Banda netted saw the She-Polopolo keep a clean sheet despite the fact that Mozambique finished the game with 10 players.
The clash between Cameroon and Zambia will be the second on a roll given that on September 15, Zambia defeated Cameroon 1-0 in the group stage thanks to a goal from Lushomo Mweemba,. Thus, it is going to be a clash of revenge for the lionesses while Zambia will be looking forward to maintaining their supremacy over Cameroon.
In the second semi-final game, host Country and defending champions, South Africa will confront Uganda at the Wolfson Stadium. South Africa on Wednesday September 17 thrashed Malawi 6-0 while a 0-0 tie between Botswana and Madagascar handed Uganda a qualification ticket to the second round of the competition.
During the group stage, South Africa defeated Malawi 6-0. According to Banyana Banyana captain Janine van Wyk “Any opponent that we play will come out against Banyana and give their best. We need to be aware of that, but also focus on ourselves. They are obviously going to analyse us too and focus on our weaknesses and try and prevent us from scoring goals.”
Winners at the semi-finals will face each other in the finals is has been programmed for Sunday September 22.
South African remind the most successful team haven won a total of four trophies since the tournament was launch in 2002. They emerged winners in 2002, 2006, 2008 and 2017).
Cameroon was invited as guest in this years edition that brought together some 12 teams from the South African Football Association Council, COSAFA region.
