Namibia drawn to face islanders, Angola SPORT REPORTERThe first-round draw for the 2016 Cosafa Under-20 Championships, sponsored by PPC, was made yesterday in Moruleng in South Africa’s North West province.
The prestigious youth tournament will be held from 7-16 December, bringing together the best young talent from the Southern African region.
Namibia was drawn in Group C contains Angola and island nations Seychelles and Mauritius.
Hosts and defending champions South Africa will have their work cut out in the defence of their title as they take on neighbours Lesotho, Swaziland and Botswana in Group A, all teams that have caused them problems in the past.
With only the top team in each pool advancing to the semi-finals, there will also be an early exit for one of the region’s heavyweights as Group B contains Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi, three teams who might all consider themselves contenders for the title.
Group D has Mozambique, Comoros Islands and East African guest nation Rwanda, who compete in the place of Madagascar.
The teams will play each other in a round-robin format with the top sides from each pool advancing to the semi-finals.
One twist is that the top teams in Groups B and D after the second round of matches will play a third game as a crossover fixture between those two pools, to ensure that most competing sides get to play three times.
The top team in Group B will play the second team in Group D and vice versa.
The group matches start on 7 December and will be completed on 13 December.
The semi-finals will take place a day later, before the remaining teams enjoy a rest day.
The third-place playoff and final of the competition will both be played on 16 December, which is a public holiday in South Africa.
The matches will be played at two venues, the Mogwase Stadium and Moruleng Stadium, with the latter being used exclusively from the semi-finals onwards.
Cosafa is staging the under-20 competition for the first time since 2013 and it makes a welcome return to the calendar, providing the opportunity for young stars to catch the eye of international scouts.