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Petros Kausiyo in RUSTENBURG, South Africa
NAMIBIA’S Brave Warriors will be looking to complete their COSAFA Cup Cinderella story when they take on Mozambique in the final at Moruleng Stadium here this afternoon.

The match will be preceded by a third-place play-off between Madagascar and Botswana at the same venue that will kick-off at 5pm.

Namibia and Mozambique booked their places in the final following dramatic wins in their semi-final assignments at Moruleng on Thursday.

Both teams needed late winners from two closely contested semi-final games that produced two tense semi-final matches that produced eight goals.

The Brave Warriors, who have been improving with each game and have certainly been the best side at this tournament, edged fellow surprise packages Madagascar 3-2 before the bite of Mozambique’s Mambas brought down Botswana’s Zebras 2-1.

Namibia found their winner six minutes from time from striker Paul Shalulile, whose blushes were spared after he had earlier missed an open goal.

That match was 2-2 at the break with four quick goals coming on inside the first 32 minutes largely due to some poor defending.

Benson Shilongo who is currently leading the tournament scoring charts, netted a brace for Namibia, first putting them ahead on 18 minutes and then equalizing on 32 to take his tournament tally to four.

Madagascar found their goals through double scorer Sarivahy Vombola who took his tally for the competition to three with a brace as Madagascar hit the front, but could not stay there.

The second semi-final on Thursday was an equally exciting affair as Mozambique triumphed 2-1 over Botswana. After the teams turned with the score 0-0, the lively Isac Decarvalho gave Mozambique the lead on 65 minutes.

Botswana hit back through Omaatla Kebatho as he drilled a low equaliser into the net, but just when it seemed as though extra-time was in the offing, The Mambas struck again. Substitute Luis Parmkim headed home with two minutes remaining to give his side the win and a first COSAFA Cup final since 2008. But the fairy-tale in this tournament of upsets has been scripted by the Brave Warriors who negotiated a much tougher path on the way to the final, clearing the hurdles of Zimbabwe and Zambia on the road.

Ricardo Mannetti’s men, whose best achievement in their COSAFA Cup history, has been a runner-up finish to Angola in the 1999 final turned on the power on Zimbabwe thumping the Warriors 4-1 to win through from their preliminary round group.

Interestingly Mannetti was in the Brave Warriors line-up in the only time they reached the final and he returns to the same stage as coach. He is also has the proud record of being the only coach to have played and coached his country in this competition.

That group also included Seychelles and Mauritius.

“It has been a long journey, I started working with some of these players when they were Under-20 and just being in the final with them means a lot to me and it will be even greater to win the Cup with them,’’ Mannetti said.