South Africa will look to win their sixth COSAFA Cup title when they face defending champions Angola in the final, set for the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein on the afternoon of Sunday 15 June. Kick-off is at 3pm CAT.

Host team Bafana Bafana earned their place in the final with an emphatic 3-1 win over Comoros on Friday, with strikes from Boitumelo Radiopane and Kamogelo Sebelebele adding to Idris Mohamed’s early own goal.

Angola, who are looking to join South Africa on five COSAFA Cup titles in the all-time record list (topped by Zambia and Zimbabwe, with seven and six titles respectively), secured an impressive win of their own in the semifinals.

The Palancas Negras crushed Madagascar 4-1, with a first-half brace from danger man Laurindo Dilson Maria Aurélio, otherwise known as Depu, setting them up for success.

Bafana Bafana coach Vela Khumalo was delighted with his team’s execution of the game plan against Comoros, and will hope for the same against Angola.

“I think we were crystal clear about how we wanted to approach the game. We said we were going to play with the two ‘10s’, with one top man, and we wanted an early goal to unsettle them and open them,” said Khuamlo.

“If you look at the teams that we have been playing against, they sit back and then they will catch us on set-play and standard situations. So in this case, what we said was, let’s have a quick goal. Let’s unsettle them. Let’s play the ball behind them, but let’s draw them in because they were man markers.

“So we said, let’s have the two tenths to draw them in, and then we will punch up with the striker, and it has worked for us. I’m happy that we scored the goals that we needed this time around.”

In head-to-head stats, South Africa and Angola have met in 20 international matches (including ‘B’ fixtures such as in the COSAFA Cup and African Nations Championship), with Bafana Bafana claiming 10 wins compared to three for the Palancas Negras (plus seven draws).

The teams’ most recent meeting was an ‘A’ international friendly in November 2022 in Nelspruit which ended 1-1, while their last COSAFA Cup clash was way back in 2009, with SA winning a quarterfinal 2-0.