A new champion will be crowned today in the second edition of the Copa Africa tournament after defending champions Kenya were eliminated by Tanzania 5-4 on a post-match penalty shootout.
Tanzania will now meet Zimbabwe in the final. The Copa Cola-Cola Under-16 national champions Serani High School failed to live up to expectations and high standards set by inaugural winners St. Anthony Boys, Kitale and will have no choice but to spectate during the final.
Hamisi Hamisi, Fredrick Onyango, Marcos Odhiambo and Nassoro Mwinyi scored for the host while Mohammed Mabruk and Bilal Kibwana failed to convert. Coach Daniel Lenjo defended the players despite losing and promised to bounce back stronger next year.
“I can’t fault the boys for the loss because they gave their all. Penalties can go either way and we go home having picked lessons. It’s disappointing because we were expected to defend the title but that is not going to happen. We will go back to the drawing board to plan for next year,” explained Lenjo.
His counterpart Abel Mutweve said they are a step closer to winning the title. “Our main aim in this championship is to win it and now we have the chance. It was never going to be easy against Kenya but the boys were up to the task.”.
Zimbabwe won 4-3 against Zambia in the shootout after a 2-2 draw in regulation time. Gumbe Oylan gave Zimbabwe 1-0 halftime lead while Nkhoma Innocent equalised eight minutes after the restart. Zimbabwe scored a second via Sakaza Joram before Uraya Ronald restored parity ahead of the shootout. Dube Avin scored the winning penalty.
Kenya play Zambia in the third-place playoff.
The second edition of the Pan-African tournament had 10 teams namely, Uganda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Zambia and hosts Kenya.
