Botswana sealed their place in the semifinals of the Women’s Under-20 competition at the AUSC Region 5 Games on Tuesday with an emphatic 6-0 success over Lesotho that saw them take top spot in Group A.
Keitumetse Dithebe scored a hat-trick to take her tally for the tournament to four, while there were further goals by Esalenna Galekhuthe, Leungo Senwelo and Michelle Abueng.
Botswana will now face Namibia in the semifinals on Thursday and with home advantage will be confident of progressing further in the competition.
Zimbabwe claimed the runners-up spot in Group A when they edged Malawi 1-0 thanks to a goal by Maudy Mafuruse midway through the first half.
It was a tightly contested game but Zimbabwe won through to the next stage and will now face South Africa in the semifinals, bringing together two of the traditional powerhouses in the region.
Meanwhile, Tanzania and Angola claimed their places in the semifinals of the Boys Under-17 competition on Tuesday.
Tanzania eased to a 2-0 victory over South Africa in their Group B clash as first half goals from Agri Arstides and Kelvin Pius gave them the three points.
They top the pool with six points from their two matches and will face Zambia in Friday’s semifinals.
They will be joined by Angola, who played to an entertaining 1-1 draw with Malawi which was enough for them to edge their opponents to second on the table on goal-difference.
Patrick Mwaungulu put Malawi ahead in the first half but they were pegged back by an equalizer from Abdoul Barri with 20 minutes to play.
Angola were able to hold on for the remainder of the game and book their semifinal spot against Eswatini, who were the only side to come through the pool stage with a 100 per cent record.
Eswatini won their final Group A game 1-0 against Botswana, at the same time condemning the hosts to a first round exit.
The only goal of the match came after just four minutes as Themba Mkhonta found the back of the net.
Zambia booked their semifinal place with a comprehensive 3-0 victory over already ousted Namibia.
The Zambians had not scored a goal in their opening two games of the tournament, but were far too strong for the Namibians, who go home without a goal and without a point in their pool.
Kelvin Mwanza, Joseph Banda and Vincent Kaunda scored the goals and they will hope to take that scoring form into the next round.
TUESDAY’S RESULTS
Men’s Under-17 competition
Group B
Angola 1 (Barri 70’) Malawi 1 (Mwungulu 26’)
Tanzania 2 (Arstides 24′, Pius 35′) South Africa 0
Group A
Zambia 3 (Mwanza 20′, Banda 33′, Kaunda 45′) Namibia 0
Eswatini 1 (Mkhonta 4’) Botswana 0
Women’s Under-20 Competition
Group A
Lesotho 0 Botswana 6 (Dithebe 6′, 14′, 44′, Senwelo 17′, Abueng 60′, Galekhutle 74′)
Malawi 0 Zimbabwe 1 (Mafuruse 23’)
THURSDAY’S FIXTURES
Women’s Under-20 Competition
Semifinals
10h00 (08h00 GMT): South Africa vs Zimbabwe – UB Stadium
15h00 (13h00 GMT): Botswana vs Namibia – UB Stadium
STANDINGS
Boys Under-17 Competition
Group A P W D L GF GA GD Pts
Eswatini (Q) 3 3 0 0 5 0 +5 9
Zambia (Q) 3 1 1 1 3 1 +2 4
Botswana 3 1 1 1 1 1 0 4
Namibia 3 0 0 3 0 7 -7 0
Group B P W D L GF GA GD Pts
Tanzania (Q) 3 2 0 1 4 3 +1 6
Angola(Q) 3 1 1 1 3 2 +1 4
Malawi 3 1 1 1 4 4 0 4
South Africa 3 1 0 2 2 4 -2 3
Women’s Under-20 Competition
Group A P W D L GF GA GD Pts
Botswana (Q) 3 2 1 0 10 2 +8 7
Zimbabwe (Q) 3 2 0 1 5 3 +2 6
Malawi 3 1 1 1 7 3 +4 4
Lesotho 3 0 0 3 1 15 -14 0
Group B P W D L GF GA GD Pts
South Africa (Q) 2 2 0 0 6 2 +4 6
Namibia (Q) 2 1 0 1 5 5 0 3
Eswatini 2 0 0 2 1 5 -4 0
