Madagascar/Zambia: Zambia, Madagascar Shine As Cosafa Teams Battle for Honours At FIFA U15 World Cup
Zambia and Madagascar produced impressive victories as the knockout phase of the inaugural FIFA Under-15 World Cup & Festival continued in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Wednesday, while South Africa and Angola suffered contrasting fortunes.
The 14 COSAFA nations are competing in the historic tournament, which features 189 teams playing eight-a-side football in matches lasting 40 minutes.
The competition has been divided into six tiers following the opening group stage, with teams competing for individual titles and final rankings based on their earlier performances.
Zambia were among the standout performers on Wednesday as they came from two goals down to beat England 3-2 in their Tier B Round of 32 clash.
England had raced into a 2-0 lead through Tom McLaughlin and Ty Livesey, but Maxen Msimuko pulled a goal back before half-time.
Samuel Musonda then equalised and Chrispine Katoba completed the remarkable comeback to send the Junior Chipolopolo through.
Zambia followed that up with a 2-0 victory over Niger in the Round of 16, with Benson Bwalya and Msimuko scoring the goals to secure a quarter-final place.
It continued an excellent tournament for Zambia, who won four of their five opening group matches, including a remarkable 13-0 victory over Montserrat.
Madagascar also enjoyed a superb Wednesday, claiming a 2-1 victory over Iraq before defeating Uzbekistan 4-1 to reach the Tier B quarter-finals.
The young Barea have now won six of their seven matches in Azerbaijan, having earlier finished second in their group behind Venezuela.
They face a difficult quarter-final against Senegal on Thursday after the West Africans swept aside Costa Rica 6-1 in the Round of 16.
South Africa began Wednesday with an emphatic 6-2 victory over Malaysia as Camden Schaper scored four goals, with Tshiamo Mashishi and Alex van der Werf also on target.
However, their hopes of lifting the Tier B title were ended later in the day as they suffered a narrow 2-1 defeat to Portugal in the Round of 16.
South Africa will now contest classification matches for positions 41 to 48, beginning with a meeting against the United Arab Emirates on Thursday.
The South Africans had finished second in their opening group, which included a 3-2 victory over France and a 13-1 win against Anguilla.
Angola had been COSAFA's leading performers after becoming the only regional side to top their opening group, winning all five matches to qualify for Tier A and a shot at the overall World Cup title.
But they endured a difficult Wednesday, losing 5-1 to Czechia in the Round of 32 before going down 2-1 to Peru in their subsequent classification fixture.
The Angolans nevertheless remain involved in the competition as they seek the highest possible final placing.
There were also setbacks for other COSAFA nations, with Mozambique beaten 1-0 by Japan in Tier C, Namibia losing 4-0 to Tunisia in the same tier and Botswana going down 2-0 to Saudi Arabia in Tier D.
The remaining COSAFA representatives, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mauritius, Eswatini, Comoros and Seychelles, are also continuing their campaigns through the various tiers and classification competitions.
The unusual format means that defeats do not bring a team's participation to an end, with each side guaranteed further opportunities to test themselves against international opposition.
Thursday will bring another full programme of quarter-finals, semi-finals and classification fixtures, before the six tier finals are played at Baku's Crystal Hall on Friday, 30 October.
For Zambia and Madagascar, the immediate challenge is to maintain their excellent form and secure places in the Tier B semi-finals as they seek to finish the inaugural tournament among the leading teams in their division.
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