Angola, SA clash in Hollywoodbets Cosafa Cup final 

Defending champions Angola and hosts South Africa will meet in the final of the Hollywoodbets Cosafa Cup in Mangaung | Bloemfontein on Sunday after each recorded comprehensive wins in their last-4 clashes.

The final will be staged at the Toyota Stadium with a 15h00 CAT kick-off (13h00 GMT) and will be streamed live on FIFA+.

Losing semi-finalists Madagascar and Comoros will clash for the bronze medal before that at the same venue at 12h00 CAT (10h00 GMT).

Angola will be aiming for back-to-back titles and their fifth overall, while South Africa will seek to join Zimbabwe on six wins, having last lifted the trophy in 2021.

There was history made on Friday as Depu’s two goals for Angola in their 4-1 win over Madagascar made him the all-time leading scorer in the Hollywoodbets Cosafa Cup with 11 goals. He won the Golden Boot with five goals last year and already has six this season, which is also the joint most goals scored in a single Hollywoodbets Cosafa Cup along with Zimbabwe’s Ovidy Karuru in 2017.

Angola romped into the final with a handsome win over the Malagasy that underlined their status as tournament favourites.

Depu opened the scoring from the penalty spot on 19 minutes. Palancas Negras were then given another opportunity from 12 yards five minutes before halftime and although Depu saw his initial effort saved, he struck home the rebound.

That was the way it stayed until the 74th minute, when Keliano’s excellent cross from the right was headed into the net by Zini.

Alem added a fourth late on after some excellent quick feet in the Madagascar box, before the islanders grabbed a consolation in injury-time thanks to Mika’s rasping shot from outside the box.

South Africa took the lead inside eight minutes in their 3-1 win over Comoros as Kamohelo Sebelebele went on a superb run on the left and beat three defenders, before his attempted cross was deflected in his own net by Comoros defender Idris Mohamed.

It was 2-0 on 14 minutes as Gape Moralo set Boitumelo Radiopane through on goal, and the striker beat the goalkeeper with the ball trickling into the net off the post.

Comoros pulled a goal back just before the half-hour mark as Ibrahim Madi drilled the ball low past home goalkeeper Thakasani Mbanjwa to give the side a route back into the game.

South Africa twice hit the post before halftime but could not add to their score. That was until Comoros got caught trying to play the ball out of defence and having lost possession, Moralo played in Sebelebele to score an easy third.

Comoros’ cause was not helped by a red card for Assane with a little over 10 minutes remaining. – cosafa.com

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