Hosts Mauritius and Malawi booked their places in the semifinals of the 2017 COSAFA Under-17 Championships after both claimed victory in their second Group A games on Monday.

Malawi thumped Zimbabwe 5-0 to keep top-spot in the pool on goal-difference, while Mauritius came from behind to defeat Botswana 2-1 at the Stade St Francois Xavier.

The pair will now face-off on Wednesday for top-spot in the pool, which would mean avoiding a semifinal with likely Group B winners Zambia, who look among the tournament favourites so far.

Malawi made light work of the Zimbabweans, with Frank Titani opening the scoring after 16 minutes.

Chinsinsi Maonga took his tally for the tournament to three goals with a brace, while there were also second-half strikes for Chikondi Mbeta and Patrick Mwaungulu.

Malawi picked up the bronze medal in 2016, but will have genuine hopes of doing better in this year’s competition.

Mauritius sealed their semifinal place with a 2-1 win over Botswana, despite having to come from behind as Godfrey Tauyatswala gave the Young Zebras the lead in the first half.

But goals from Adriano Chiu Chung Fat and Jean Aristide turned things around for the islanders, much to the delight of the hone fans.

The two semifinalists from Group B will become clear when that pool is completed on Tuesday.

Leaders Zambia face Mozambique in a game they will expect to win to secure top-spot, while South Africa need to match or better the result of Mozambique against Madagascar to seal their passage into the knockout stages for the second year running.

Both matches kick-off at 15h00 local time (11h00 GMT).