cc16-Sleek Swaziland hold Zimbabwe

An acrobatic strike late in the second half from Elisha Muroiwa helped Zimbabwe come from behind to salvage a 2-2 draw against an impressive Swaziland side in a thrilling opening match of the 2016 Cosafa Cup at the Sam Nujoma Stadium on Saturday.

Paying an impressive expansive brand of football, Swaziland took an early lead when talisman Felix Badenhorst head in from close range with 15 minutes played.

The Swazi’s had struggled to master a noteworthy attack up until that moment as Zimbabwe bossed the early exchanges.

However, after going a goal up Swaziland played with confidence and had the record four-time Cosafa Cup winners rattled and on the back-foot for extended spells.

Zimbabwe, who enjoyed a vociferous support inside the stadium, hit back immediately after the break as man of the match Obadiah Tarumbwa headed in the equaliser after just four minutes of the restart.

But Swaziland were back ahead on 65 minutes as Zimbabwe’s Danny Phiri handled in the box and Badenhorst stepped up to complete his brace from the penalty spot.

With the Swazis controlling the match and looking set for the first shock of the tournament, Muroiwa spared Zimbabwe’s blushes with a stunning overhead kick 10 minutes from time to salvage a point.

”We obviously are very disappointed that we did not to win. We led twice but let Zimbabwe back into the match. We created many chances and should have taken more of them,” said Swaziland coach Harries Bulunga

His Zimbabwean counterpart Kalisto Pasuwa said: ”Very well done to opposition. They created so many chances. I hope this is a lesson to my boys to tighten up and improve for the matches to come. In the end we managed to get a point so all is not lost.”

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