The Zambia Women’s National Team will play in their second successive COSAFA Women’s Championship final following a 1-0 win over Zimbabwe.
Zambia progressed to the final thanks to a moment of magic from Sarah Jere who netted the only goal of the match.
Zambia came into the match looking to continue their momentum after a 5-1 win in their final group game.
The Copper Queens started slow but shortly grew into the game with Evarine Susan Katongo pulling the strings in midfield.
Sarah Jere had the best of Zambia’s chances after Katongo and Salome Phiri combined to set her up but her tame shot was easily dealt with by Cynthia Shonga.
Zimbabwe had two late chances but Leticia Lungu was equal to the task. The match went to the break level at 0-0.
In the second half Zambia came back with a lot more purpose.
Zambia took the lead just six minutes after the restart, Jere sliced through the Zimbabwe defence like a knife through butter after being set up by Evarine Susan Katongo beating three players before slotting home, 1-0.
Nine minutes later Zambia came close to doubling the lead, Pauline Zulu with a beautiful shot from outside of the box, beating Shonga but not the post.
Shonga was very busy as three minutes later she had to deal with an Esther Siamfuko well taken free kick which had her needing medical attention after an awkward landing.
Leticia Lungu nearly brought Zimbabwe back into the game after a blunder but she was quick to clean up.
Zambia held on to win 1-0 to seal their place in the final, their second in two years.
Evarine Susan Katongo was named as the player of the match for her overall impressive performance, her second of the tournament.
Zambia will face the winner between Malawi and Mozambique in the final on Sunday.
Source: ZamFoot
