10 August 2019 – Sasol-sponsored Banyana Banyana take on Zambia in the final of the 2019 COSAFA Women’s Championship at Wolfson Stadium in Port Elizabeth.
The clash takes place on Sunday, 12 August, and kickoff is at 14h00 (rescheduled time).
In the last two meeting between the two nations, South Africa won 4-3 in Zimbabwe in 2017 – this after coming back from 3-0 down in the semifinal of this tournament, which they went on win.
The second match ended in a 1-1 stalemate in the group stages of the 2018 Women’s AFCON in Ghana.
Both countries haven’t lost here in Port Elizabeth in the 2019 edition of the competition and have been scoring goals like they are going out of fashion.
Zambia, who were in Group B, beat Mauritius 15-0 in their first match, followed it up with a 3-2 win over Namibia before playing to a 0-0 draw against Botswana to qualify for the semifinal where they beat the same Botswana 4-0.
South Africa outclassed and outplayed the Comoros Islands and registered a tournament record 17-0 victory in their first match. They then brushed aside Malawi 3-1 and defeated Madagascar 3-0. In the last four, Banyana Banyana beat Zimbabwe 3-1.
Between them, they have scored 48 of the 116 goals in the tournament after 21 games.
Rachel Nachula of Zambia looks likely to be the top goal scorer as she is sitting on 10 goals with one match to go – the closest South Africans are captain Refiloe Jane and Amanda Mthandi, both tied at goals apiece.
Ellis believes there is a lot in common between her side and Zambia going into the final, which looks to be close contest.
Here is what Ellis had to say: