Namibia were crowned the 2016 Cosafa U17 Champions on Sunday after beating South Africa 3-1 in penalty shoot-out following a 1-1 draw in the final in Mauritius on Sunday.
Namibia who had earlier met the Amajimbos in the pool stage and lost 4-0 showed a vastly improved performance creating best chances in the first half.Alex Kaongelwa powerful shot in the 31st minute missed the goal mouth by inches with South Africa goalkeeper well beaten putting a clear indication of a side hungry for goals.
In the second half the deadlock was finally broken in the 65th minute when substitute Godwin Awaseb power shot found the back of the net in his first touch of the ball making it 1-0 for Namibians.
South Africa came into action after that goal and seven minutes later Thabito Mayesa unleashed a powerful shot to make it 1-1.
In the 85th minute Monyane had a magnificent chance to put Amajimbos ahead.He had just the goalkeeper to beat but his shot went wide.
Minutes later the referee signalled the end of 90 minute of play and the game went to penalties, with Namibia keeper Josef Phillipus proving the hero by saving two penalties with Namibia winning 3-1
Third place-play off
Malawi grabbed the bronze medal with a 2-0 victory over an improved Kenya.Kenya who had earlier lost 5-0 to Malawi in pool stages were more composed and much tougher this time round.
Malawi found the back of the net 58th minute to open the scoring when Peter Banda netted his fifth of the competition, making him the leading scorer for the COSAFA Under-17 Championships this year.
Malawi then doubled their lead with three minutes to go when Francisco Madinga netted to make it 2-0.
Speaking to Jounalists after the match Kenya’s coach Andreas Spier praised his boys noting that his side had improved a lot during the competition.
“I think we have improved a lot, starting from the first match to the last match,” he said. “For the match, we had chances, we came close to scoring. So I would say that I’m happy with the development of the team.
I think that this tournament has achieved its targets and I hope that this Under-17 tournament will continue for the development of the game.”
Kenya conceded 16 goals in the five matches that they played in the tournament that acted as preparations for the 2017 Africa U17 Championship qualifiers where they are scheduled to meet Cameroon in the preliminaries.
Festus Chuma story.
