COSAFA Cup: South Africa 2 Namibia 1

South Africa reached the semi-finals of the COSAFA Cup with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Namibia on Saturday.

Early second-half goals from Shongwe Jabulani and Hlompho Kekana were enough to send Gordon Igesund’s men through to the last four, even though they faced a nervy final 17 minutes after Willy Stephanus scored from the spot for Namibia.

Both sides started the game brightly at Lukasa’s Nkloma Stadium, with Namibia’s Jakob Pinehas wasting a good chance by firing over the bar early on.

South Africa striker Edward Manqele then went close, but the teams remained level at the break.

Igesund introduced Jabulani at half-time and it did not take long for the Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder to stamp his authority on the match, as he hit a superb long-range effort past Virgil Vries in the Namibian goal just three minutes after the restart.

And South Africa doubled their advantage shortly after when Kekana fired home from the edge of the area.

Namibia battled well after going two behind and substitute Stephanus got them back into the game with a re-taken penalty after 73 minutes.

However, South Africa held on to book a semi-final against either the hosts Zambia or Mozambique on Wednesday.

In the day’s other quarter-final tie, holders Zimbabwe beat Malawi on penalties to secure their passage into the last four, where they will play Angola or Lesotho.