Result: South Africa 0-3 Zambia
Date: 14 December 2019
Venue: Nkoloma Stadium
South Africa had to settle for a runners-up medal at the U20 COSAFA U-20 Men's Championship after losing 3-0 to Zambia in the final.
Amajita coach Helman Mkhalele made only two changes to the side that beat Madagascar on penalties in the semi-finals, as Kaizer Chiefs' budding youngster Keletso Sifama and Vusimuzi Plamana earned starts.
The early exchanges produced fireworks, as the hosts were piling pressure on South Africa, with goalkeeper Bontle Molefe making a series of great saves to deny Zambia the opener.
However, Molefe was finally beaten six minutes before the break as Jonathan Manalula broke the deadlock for Zambia with an overhead kick.
Amajita imploded in the closing phase of the first stanza, as they were hit on a counter-attack by the hosts with Francisco Mwepu doubling the advantage with three minutes remaining of the first-half.
Mkhalele's charges were spirited coming from the break as substiitute Rahim Milazi hit the post two minutes inside the second stanza while Sifama missed a sitter around the hour-mark.
Amajita kept on probing and they refreshed the side with 18 minutes remaining as Keenan Bezuidenhout came on for Sifama, while in the last nine minutes Tshepo Myeni made way for Rivaldo Present.
However, the changes did not help as Manaluna got the third goal for the hosts with six minutes remaining and grabbed his brace in the process to effectively end the game as a contest.
