Bafana Bafana have been knocked out of the 2023 COSAFA Cup by Zambia 2-1 in regulation time.
The Semi-final clash took place at the King Zwelithini Stadium in Umlazi on Friday, 14 July 2023.
The hosts scored first dominated play and created numerous chances in their game.
Tshegofatso Mabasa thrust Bafana Bafana ahead a minute before the halftime break before Zambia restored parity through Golden Mashata five minutes into the second half.
Albert Kangwanda then grabbed Chipolopolo’s winner on 69 minutes to eliminate Morena Ramoreboli and his men.
Zambia will now meet, in the final, Lesotho who beat Malawi 3-0 on penalties in the other semi-final clash following a 1-1 regulation time draw earlier in the day.
Chipolopolo now has an opportunity to become outright Cosafa Cup record holders with a seventh title if they beat Lesotho on Sunday.
They are currently joint with Zimbabwe on six titles each.
South Africa, they have five Cosafa crowns and it was a lost chance to go on a tie with Zambia and Zimbabwe had they progressed to the final and won it.
They will now try to salvage some pride when they meet Malawi in the third-place play-offs on Sunday, just before the final.
Ramoreboli gave goalkeeper Olwethu Mzimela his first start in this tournament while benching Jethren Barr in what was his major change to his side.
Bafana started the match on the offensive with Iqraam Rayners forcing Zambia goalkeeper Francis Mwansa to parry to safety his dangerous low strike after just four minutes.
Shortly after, Zambia responded when Wisdom Libamba forced Mzimela to desperately dive and block his shot.
From there, the two teams never did much to produce anxious moments for their fans.
But on the stroke of halftime, Mabasa struck, pouncing on the spoils after Mwansa punched Thabo Cele’s effort into his path to give South Africa the lead.
But Mashata hit back to level matters for Chipolopolo early into the second stanza.
Kangwanda then completed Zambia’s comeback with a well-taken freekick that gave Mzimela no chance but rather left the AmaZulu stopper haplessly watching the ball nestle into the back of the net.
With the pressure now on Bafana, Rayners was denied by the crossbar following his 74th-minute effort.
Some spirited defending by Zambia helped them frustrate the hosts and held on to the slim victory.
