BY PETER KANJERE:
Qualification to the Cosafa Youth Championship semi-finals is not in the hands of Malawi under-17 national football team going into this afternoon’s Group C final qualifying match against Swaziland at Stade Anjalay in Mauritius.
After losing 1-0 to leaders Angola last Friday, Malawi revived their hopes following an emphatic 5-0 hammering of Zimbabwe on Monday but, on the same day, the young Angolans clinched their last-four berth after walloping Swaziland 4-0.
Angola have, also today, an academic match against the eliminated Zimbabwe, who also lost 3-2 to Swaziland last Friday.
No other team in the group can catch up with Angola as they have a superior head-to head, which breaks a tie across the three four-member groups. Group winners and overall best loser will sail through to the semi-finals, according to Cosafa rules and regulations.
The regulations stipulate that “the group winners will be determined based on total number of points attained at the end of group matches. Should two teams finish on an equal number of points, the result will be determined by (i) greater number of points obtained in the matches between the teams concerned.”
With three points from two games just like Swaziland, the junior Flames can only qualify to the semi-finals as the best losers.
The junior Flames can sail through as overall best losers if they beat Swaziland by a big margin so as to surpass Mauritius, who thrashed Seychelles 6-1 Tuesday to finish on second place for Group A with six points. Maurtitius’ goal difference is +5 whereas Malawi have +4.
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