Mpumalanga's Cosafa Challenge
13 July 2008
The Cosafa Senior Challenge Cup, which will see countries from the Southern African Development Community battling it out, will also be a test for Mpumalanga's preparations towards hosting the 2010 Fifa World Cup matches.
The first group stage fixtures of the 12th Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa) Senior Challenge Cup were drawn up in Nelspruit on Thursday.
The tournament, which features 14 teams from the Southern African Development Community (SADC), will be played in a new two-stage format from 19 July to 3 August.
Opening matches
The first two matches of the tournament will feature Madagascar against Swaziland and Mauritius against Seychelles at the Atlantic Stadium in Emalahleni (formerly Witbank) on 19 July.
Premier of Mpumalanga Thabang Makwetla said Cosafa had shown confidence in the province by allowing them to host a tournament of such magnitude, following last year's Cosafa under-20 Championships.
He said hosting the matches will test whether the province is ready to host the World Cup, in terms of providing security and accommodation.
World Cup preparations
"Our exposure to hosting international games of this magnitude will, no doubt, put us in good stead in our preparations for the World Cup tournament."
Cosafa General-Secretary Ashford Mamelodi said the tournament would also serve as a test case for the players ahead of the World Cup and the African Cup of Nations.
The Cosafa Senior Challenge Cup will feature 20 matches between Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Seychelles, Swaziland and newcomers, the Comoros Islands.
Top six
The top six teams based on the latest FIFA rankings - Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe - will go directly into the quarter-finals, leaving the bottom eight countries to battle it out for the remaining two places in the quarter-finals.
The Group A teams are Swaziland, Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles, while the Group B teams include the Comoros Islands, Malawi, Namibia and Lesotho.
Bafana Bafana will play their first match at the Atlantic Stadium in Emalahleni on 26 July against the winners of Group B.
Final venue
Other matches will be played at the Lillian Ngoyi Stadium in Secunda, while the final and third place play-off matches will be played at Thulamahashe Stadium in Bushbuckridge.
South Africa is the defending champion after beating Zambia 4-3 on penalties in last year's final.
Source: BuaNews
