By Mark Ogagan
South Africa sailed into the final of the COSAFA Women’s Championship on Thursday after beating Mozambique 4-1 on penalties.
Coach Maud Khumalo’s youthful charges won a tense semi-final duel following a 1-1 draw in regulation time at the Isaac Wolfson Stadium in Port Elizabeth.
Banyana Banyana had to come back from a goal down and then keep their nerve during an equally tense penalty shootout.
Isabella Alexa Ludwig embraced the responsibility of taking the first penalty kick and scored to put South Africa in the lead during the lottery. Tshegofatso Motlogelwa, Nobahle Mdelwa and Kesha Hendricks converted their penalties while Mozambique missed their second before South Africa goalkeeper Jessica Williams made a brilliant save to deny the visitors.
It ended 4-1 and the South Africans will face Zambia in the final at the selfsame Isaac Wolfson Stadium on Saturday, 2nd November.
It was a closely contested affair during the 90 minutes and Mozambique made their intentions very clear early in the match when they took the game to the home side. They battled and competed for every ball and were eventually rewarded when Celia Miguel scored the opening goal of the match in the 32nd minute.
The Sasol-sponsored South Africans fought back and continued to search for the equaliser. They were rewarded when Shannon Macomo was brought down inside the area in the 45th minute. The referee initially waved play on but eventually consulted the VAR with the home supporters screaming for an intervention.
After consulting the VAR, the referee pointed to the penalty spot and Motlogelwa made no mistake to draw COSAFA Banyana level. The two sides went into the halftime break still level and after resuming the second period, it was clear that the winning goal would be difficult to find during the initial 90 minutes of time.
After 90 minutes, it was left up to the lottery of penalty kicks to decide the match and Khumalo’s players held their nerve to win the game.
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