Bafana Bafana beat Malawi in a penalty shoot-out to secure a 5th place at the Cosafa Cup after their plate final in Durban on Friday ended goalless.
The South African side fell into the plate section of the tournament after an opening game penalty-shoot out loss to Botswana, following a 2-2 draw. They bounced back in the next game to progress to the plate final with another shoot-out victory, this time against Uganda after a 1-1 draw.
Malawi lost to Zambia in a penalty-shoot out in the quarter-finals of the main section to drop to the plate, before a 2-1 win over Comoros set up the final clash against Bafana.
The visitors got off to the brighter start and almost opened the scoring with 13 minutes gone, but Gerald Phiri Junior’s well struck free kick was smartly stopped by Bafana shot-stopper Mondli Mpoto.
Bafana began to grow into the game and went close in the 38th minute when Mahlatsi struck the upright with a thunderous header following a corner.
The South Africans were looking dangerous in the air and two minutes later it was the chance of Margeman, but he saw his header kept out by Brighton Munthali.
It was all happening on the stroke of half-time, when the visitors almost scored twice, first when Mpoto denied Gabadinho Mhango with a point-blank save, before Phiri Junior struck the crossbar directly from a corner.
0-0 at the break despite both teams coming close.
Malawi looked to dominate the ball in the opening stages of the second half and kept Bafana contained in their own half, but they just couldn’t create a clear opening.
Bafana began to find their feet again and missed a golden chance with 71 minutes gone when Mahlatsi fluffed a rebound from a free kick, before Liam Jordan smashed the outside of the post six minutes later with an effort from a tight angle.
Try as they might, neither side could find a goal in the remainder of the 90 minutes as the game went into extra time.
After a rather uneventful added-time period the game would be decided on penalties.
Both sides missed their opening two efforts as the shoot-out went to sudden death, where Charles Petro struck the underside of the crossbar before the Bafana victory was sealed with Teboho Mokoena’s successful conversion.
