8 December 2018 – South Africa’s National Under-20 (Amajita) progressed to this year’s COSAFA Under-20 Championship’ semi-finals after beating eSwatini 4-0 at Nkana Stadium in Kitwe, Zambia.

They will now face best runners-up of the three groups featuring in this tournament at Nkana Stadium on 11 December 2018.

Against eSwatini, Amajita’s first goal came through the educated right foot of Luke Le Roux in the 37th minute.

The Supersport United midfielder simply curled his shot into the top left corner to beat the opposition goalkeeper, following a superb assist from teammate Lyle Foster.

This goal came several minutes after Amajita struggled to infiltrate the opposition’s defence up in the final third.

eSwatini had opted to play with more bodies in their rear guard in an attempt to avoid conceding goals going into their final match of Group B.

Prior to this encounter, eSwatini had suffered a 4-0 defeat against Mauritius.

In the second period of the match though, coach Thabo Senong charges came with a better plan to counter the opposition’s tight defence.

They played long balls into the 18-yard box where either Promise Mkhuma, Foster or Thabiso Monyane were lurking to pounce on the presented goal scoring opportunities.

And that is how Forster scored his third goal of the tournament. The Orlando Pirates striker converted Amajita’ second goal of the match with a clean header, following a pinpoint cross from Mkhuma on the far side.

Monyane then followed. The stocky center forward bulldozed his way into 16-yard box to unleash a cracker of a shot which put the COSAFA defending champions in a comfortable leading position.

Mkhuma wrapped things up with a well take shot in the 86th minute, following a longball played into the box from the near side to make the scoreline 4-0.