Angola hold Banyana Banyana in COSAFA Women’s Championship 2021

Angola have held South Africa’s Banyana Banyana to a goalless draw in a Group A match played today at the on-going COSAFA Women’s Championship 2021.

The Angola team defended in numbers at the Madibaz Stadium in Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium to deny the reigning champions from picking maximum points.

Fresh from winning the Aisha Buhari Cup in Nigeria, the Banyana Banyana needed to register a second straight win to book a place in the semi final before playing their last Group game against Mozambique.

Angola’s skipper Lidia Lubano who was voted MVP after the match said holding South Africa to a draw was a good result. “We played as a team and glad we picked a point against a strong team,” added Lubano.

South Africa’s head coach Desire Ellis said she was disappointed with the result. “I am disappointed with the result because we have to be better than this. We did not stick to the game plan,” said Coach Ellis. South Africa opened their campaign with a 2-1 win against Malawi on September 28th.

In an earlier Group A played at the same venue Malawi came from two goals down to defeat Mozambique 3-2.

Cina Manuel and Cidalia Cuta scored early for the Mozambique team, before Zainabu Kapanda, Sabina Thom and Ireen Khumalo scored to make sure Malawi bagged maximum points.

Already 28 goals have been scored after eight games since the tournament featuring 12 teams kicked off on September 28th.

Angola opened the tournament with a 2-2 draw against Mozambique, while Botswana humbled South Sudan 7-0 and Tanzania also picked a 3-0 win against Zimbabwe in a Group B match.

On Thursday Namibia and Uganda settled for a goalless draw, while Zambia thrashed Eswatini 5-0 with Ochumba Lubandji scoring a hat-trick.

Action returns on Saturday with Group B matches as Botswana face Tanzania, and South Sudan take on Zimbabwe.