South Africa’s Bafana Bafana unconsciously did the Flames a big favour by expelling Lesotho from the 2016 Cosafa Castle Cup on Saturday at Sam Nujoma Stadium in Namibia.
South Africa won 4-2 on post-match penalties in the quarterfinal against the Crocodiles, who dismissed Malawi from Group B of the regional football showpiece on Thursday.
The Flames finished on six points from three games, three behind Lesotho.
What was remarkable for South Africa’s win was that they survived a late send-off of scorer Gift Motupa to hang on for the penalty lotteries won through Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper Reyaad Petersen’s two brilliant stops.
Jane Thabo-Ntso, whose 83rd minute goal hurt the Flames on Thursday night, had put Lesotho ahead in regulation time, only for Motupa to level matters with a header in the late stages of the game.
Bafana Banafa meet either Zambia or Swaziland on Wednesday. The Chipolopolo and Swaziland clashed yesterday in another quarterfinal.
In other games, Botswana defeated hosts and defending champions Namibia 5-4 also through post-match penalties in Windhoek on Saturday night.
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