The Young Warriors are set to take on Zambia in the semi-finals of the CAF Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations, COSAFA qualifier in Matola, Mozambique. The other semi-final will be between Angola and South Africa. Both matches are scheduled for Thursday.
Angola and Zimbabwe were already confirmed as winners of their respective pools before Tuesday’s action, where South Africa took the top spot in Group C following a 2-0 win over Comoros.
Lesotho’s 3-2 victory over Malawi left a complex calculation for second place in the pool, but Malawi took the spot by virtue of goals scored.
When three teams level on points the results from matches between those sides are used to place them in order in the table.
Each side had three points and a +0 goal difference, but Malawi scored four goals to Lesotho’s three and Comoros’ two.
Having seen Malawi place second, the head-to-head record between Comoros and Lesotho was needed to decide third and the islanders took it by virtue of their 1-0 win in their opening pool game.
The calculation for the best runner-up across all the pools sees the results of the teams that finish bottom in Groups A and C discarded to level the playing field with the three-team Group B, where Zambia finished second with three points and a -1 goal difference.
Botswana were the second-placed team in Group A, but with only their two draws against Zimbabwe and Eswatini counting towards the calculation, they had two points and so finished below Zambia.
When only the points from matches involving South Africa, Malawi and Comoros were taken into account in Group C, Malawi came out with three points but a -4 goal difference, putting them behind Zambia as well.
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