Hosts South Africa was bundled out of the Cosafa Castle Cup on Sunday as Tanzania and Zimbabwe booked their place in the tournament semi-finals.
Ovidy Kararu kept up his goal scoring streak at the competition with a sixth goal in four games as Zimbabwe overcame fatigue to edge Swaziland in a 2-1 victory at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace.
Earlier, Tanzania, who also had to come through a gruelling first round schedule, upset the defending champions with a 1-0 win that shocked the home crowd.
The Taifa Stars, who are guests at the 14-team southern African championship, now meet Zambia in the first of Wednesday’s semi-finals at the Moruleng Stadium while Zimbabwe is up against Lesotho.
South Africa and Swaziland drop into the plate competition and take on Botswana and Namibia respectively on Tuesday.
Elias Maguri’s 18th minute strike proved the difference in a game where South Africa dominated possession and wracked up a 13-2 corner count but could not convert their chances, even if they fielded a makeshift line-up with a total of just five previous caps between them.
Tanzania’s goal came from a superb ball over the top of a South Africa defence that had pushed up too high, allowing Maguri to get in behind Lorenzo Gordinho and with a solid first touch beat South Africa goalkeeper Boalefa Pule.
South Africa battled back for an equaliser with Cole Alexander, Judas Moseamedi, Mohau Mokati and Gordinho all spurning late chances. Gordinho missed with a goal yawning in front of him in stoppage time at the end of the game.
Zimbabwe dominated the early stages of the last of the quarter-finals against Swaziland and had already had a handful of chances before Karuru scored. He is now second highest all-time scorer in the Cosafa Castle Cup behind compatriot Peter Ndlovu, who has eight goals.
But a fourth game in a week saw Zimbabwe fade and allow Felix Badenhorst to equalise just after half-time. Swazi had a handful of chances after that although Zimbabwe also kept up their attacks.
It was substitute Knox Mutizwa who came off the bench to score with a clever near-post flick at the corner some 11 minutes from time to send Zimbabwe through.
SUNDAY’S RESULTS
Quarterfinals
South Africa 0 Tanzania 1 (Maguri 18’)
Swaziland 1 (Badenhorst 48’) Zimbabwe 2 (Karuru 16’, Mutizwa 79’)
TUESDAY’S FIXTURES
Plate Semi-finals
Botswana vs South Africa (KO 17h00 local, 15h00 GMT) – Moruleng Stadium
Namibia vs Swaziland (KO 19h30 local, 17h30 GMT) – Moruleng Stadium
