Bafana likely to lock horns with Angola

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Young Bafana captain, Keagan Dolly,in action.

By Herrold Lamola
(@Lamola_eitcHDee)

South Africa could potentially face Angola in the quarterfinals of the 2016 COSAFA Castle Cup after the draw for the competition was held on Thursday night.

The South African team, which is likely to be an Under-23 selection under the guidance of Owen da Gama in preparation for the Olympic Games, will enter the competition at the quarterfinal stage and tackle the winners of the first round Group B.
South Africa played Angola an astonishing five times last year, overcoming them in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers after losing out in the African Nations Championship preliminaries.

They also played a friendly in Cape Town that was won 2-1 by South Africa.  
Aside from Angola, the other three potential opponents are Malawi, Lesotho and Mauritius.
Zambia will face the winners of Group A in their quarterfinal, which will mean one of Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Seychelles and one of the surprise packages from 2015, Madagascar.

The other quarterfinals see guest nation DR Congo come up against 2015 runners-up Mozambique, while holders Namibia take on Botswana. The first round group stage will take up the first week of the tournament from June 11, with just the top team in each pool advancing to the quarterfinals.

The championship then continues in a knockout format, with the quarterfinal losers dropping into the Plate competition that was first introduced in 2013 and last year was claimed by Malawi.
The COSAFA Castle Cup was launched in 1997 and very quickly become one of the most exciting competitions on the African soccer calendar.
The emergence of the COSAFA Castle Cup has also had much to do with the rise to prominence and the growth in strength of the southern region in African soccer.

It has given the COSAFA member countries opportunities to increase their international profile and seek further success on other stages, like that of the African Nations Cup finals and the World Cup finals.

Zambia and Zimbabwe have each claimed four titles each, with South Africa and Angola three-time winners. Namibia claimed their first championship when they won the 2015 COSAFA Castle Cup. 

COSAFA CASTLE CUP FIRST ROUND

Group A
A1 – Zimbabwe
A2 – Swaziland
A3 – Seychelles
A4 – Madagascar

Group B
B1 – Malawi
B2 – Angola
B3 – Lesotho
B4 – Mauritius

QUARTERFINAL DRAW
QF1 – South Africa vs Winner Group B
QF2 – Botswana vs Namibia
QF3 – Zambia vs Winner Group A
QF4 – DR Congo vs Mozambique

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