Cosafa Cup kicks off with a Zimbabwe win

Zimbabwe began their COSAFA Cup with a 2-0 win over Mauritius at the Moruleng Stadium on Sunday evening.

There were just a few hundred spectators as Group A kicked off with the double-header attraction, but the crowd grew through the evening as Zimbabwean expatriates came to support their side to a well-fought victory in the second game of the day.

The Zimbabweans broke the deadlock in the 28th minue when Carlos Rusere drilled home a low effort past Kevin Jean-Louis. Kevin Jean-Louis was a busy goalkeeper throughout and pulled off a couple key saves to keep Mauritius in the game. However, Zimbabwe doubled their lead in the 66th minute courtesy of a deflected effort from Ronald Chitiyo, which left Jean-Louis wrong-footed.

The opening game of the Cosafa Cup however proved to be a stalemate, as the Seychelles and Namibia played out to a goalless draw.

Namibia squandered countless opportunities and missed out on an expected victory as the tiny Seychelles, ranked more than 70 places below them in the latest Fifa rankings, held them to a surprise goalless draw. Poor shooting let down the Namibians who had an incredible 28 shots on goal but managed just seven on target. Seychelles in contrast had just four in the first game.

The Seychelles will lock horns with Zimbabwe in their second Cosafa Cup tie, while Nambia will do battle with Mauritius.