Zimbabwe romp into quarter-finals

Zimbabwe make easy work of Seychelles to advance to COSAFA Castle Cup quarter-finals.

ZIMBABWE booked their spot in the quarter-finals of the COSAFA Castle Cup with an emphatic 6-0 win over the Seychelles at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium on Friday.

The Warriors will now face Swaziland in the next round of the competition with the game set to take place on Sunday.

Ovidy Karuru proved the star for Zimbabwe as he bagged a classy hat-trick, whilst Prince Dube got one and Ocean Mushure notched two late on as their side brushed aside the islanders.

Innocent Mucheneka had the ball in the back of the net for Zimbabwe just after the quarter hour mark but Michelle Katsvairo had been incorrectly ruled offside earlier in the build up and the goal did not stand.

It was a moment of little consequence, however, as Karuru opened his account in the 24th minute as he smashed the ball onto the underside of the crossbar and it came down behind the line.

Just over a minute later Karuru had doubled the advantage and his personal tally as he found himself in space at the back post again and finished powerfully.

Ten minutes into the second stanza and Prince Dube put the result beyond doubt as he beat the offside trap, rounded the goalkeeper and slotted into an open net from a tight angle.

Karuru was not done either and in the 66th minute he rounded off his treble with a thumping header. 

Late on Mushure scored two brilliant goals as first he snuck the ball in from a free-kick positioned close to the byline and with virtually the final kick of the game netted with an outstanding first time strike. 

In the other Group B fixture, played simultaneously at the Moruleng Stadium, Madagascar emerged 4-1 victors over Mozambique but despite the win leaving them level on points with Zimbabwe an inferior goal difference sees them exit the tournament. –kickoff.com