East African guest nation Uganda and Zambia sealed their places in the semifinals of the 2019 Cosafa (Confederation of Southern African Football Associations) Women’s Under-17 Championship with emphatic victories in the final round of Group A matches in Mauritius on Tuesday.
Both teams finished on seven points, but Uganda will head the pool via a better goal-difference after the head-to-head fixture between the sides finished 1-1 on the opening day.
Uganda thumped Comoros Islands 20-0 in their fixture as captain Juliet Nalukenge netted seven goals to take her tally in the competition to 14 and the top of the scorers-charts.
Uganda led 14-0 at the break as they ran riot in the opening half, with Margret Kunihira scoring five goals in the match, and Shakira Nyinagahirwa and Fauzia Najjemba (four goals) also managing to net hattricks in what was an emphatic display from the guests.
The East Africans will now wait for Wednesday’s final round of Group B fixtures to find out who they will play in the semifinals.
The same is true for Zambia, who dispatched host nation Mauritius with an 8-0 victory as Florence Kasonde bagged a hattrick.
Tisilile Lungu, Maweta Chilenga, Comfort Selemani (two) and Cindy Banda were also on target.
South Africa will secure top-spot if they get a point in their final Group B clash against Madagascar at the St François Xavier Stadium on Wednesday.
The Malagasy would then need to hope that Seychelles beat Botswana, which seems unlikely given how the tournament has gone for the latter so far. That match is at the Anjalay Stadium at the same time.
If both Botswana and Madagascar win, that would leave them on six points along with South Africa, and create a mini-league between the teams of matches played between them to determine which two teams finish top.
Seychelles may just be hoping they can get a goal having been the only team to go scoreless in the competition so far while conceding 44 goals in their two games.
In partnership with ANA and Sports Leo
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