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Fantastic four for Banyana Banyana in Cosafa Women's Championship

Banyana Banyana win their 4th COSAFA Women’s Cup and second in a row
Banyana Banyana win their 4th COSAFA Women’s Cup and second in a row
Image: Banyana Banyana

Banyana Banyana clinched a historic fourth consecutive Cosafa Women’s Championship title by beating Botswana 2-1 in the final at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday.

Goals from Sibulele Holweni and Gabriela Salgado saw Banyana claim their seventh Cosafa Women’s’ Championship title and the fourth in a row‚ which is a record.

The win also saw the South African women’s team go unbeaten in the competition.

Ahead of the match coach Desiree Ellis said her players needed to stay switched on for the duration of the game if they wanted to beat their neighbours and they did exactly that on Saturday.

Banyana made their intentions clear from the outset soon after referee Antsino Anyukwa had started the game.

With just two minutes gone Holweni scored the first goal of the match to put her side into an early lead.

Hildah Magaia had chance at goal in the 37th minute of the match but her attempt hit the side-netting.

In the second half‚ Botswana put pressure on Banyana chasing for an equaliser.

But in the 65 minute Salgado extended Banyana’s lead to 2-0 with a fine shot past Botswana goalkeeper Maitumelo Bosija after she could only push Magaia's volley away.

Botswana's Mokgabo Thanda scored a consolation goal for her side in the 86th minute.

Coach Ellis’s troops made their way to the final after beating 10-women Malawi 6-2 in the semifinals of the tournament at Wolfson Stadium on Thursday.

Banyana beat Angola 2-0 in their opening fixture‚ which was followed by a 5-0 success against Eswatini.

The national women’s team closed their round robin stage fixtures with a 7-0 triumph over Comoros and finished on top of Group A.

Botswana made history when they booked their first spot in a Cosafa Women’s Championship final by beating Zambia 2-1 in the other semifinal on Thursday.