Comoros eye historic breakthrough at COSAFA U-20 Qualifier

Comoros eye historic breakthrough at COSAFA U-20 Qualifier

Comoros will be seeking to get out of their group for the first time when they compete in the TotalEnergies CAF U-20 Africa Cup of Nations Qualifiers | COSAFA in Mauritius from September 18-27. This year’s event is a preliminary competition for the continental finals and Comoros will want to build on some encouraging recent showings with a new generation after winning two of their three games in Eswatini in 2022, though it was not quite enough to advance to the knockout stages. They defeated Namibia 1-0 and Malawi 2-0, but a 4-0 defeat to South Africa left three teams in the pool on six points and Comoros missed out on the head-to-head tiebreaker. But they showed a major improvement from previous years, when they had not won a game in six previous competitions. They have been drawn in Group C this year alongside record 12-time winners Zambia, Malawi and Botswana, a tough pool but one they will feel is not insurmountable. Only the top team in each group and the best runner-up across the three pools advance to the semifinals. The two finalists will qualify for the TotalEnergies CAF U-20 Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana in 2027. Comoros made their tournament bow in 2007 when they exited in the first round, losing their only match 4-0 to Zimbabwe in what was a tough debut. They were back the following year but did not get past the group stages, and then withdrew in 2009, not appearing again until the 2013 event, where they managed a pair of draws against Lesotho (2-2) and Mauritius (0-0), but missed out on the knockout stages after losing 3-1 to Kenya. The next edition was not held until 2016, when Comoros appeared again, drawing with Mozambique (2-2) before a 2-0 loss to DR Congo in a three-team pool. They did not appear in the next two editions but returned in 2019, losing all three games to Malawi (4-0), Zambia (2-0) and Botswana (2-1). It was, unfortunately, a similar story in 2020 as all of their games ended in defeat, going down to Malawi (1-0), Zambia (2-0) and Namibia (1-0), which left them still seeking that first victory in the competition. That breakthrough finally came in 2022 when they beat Namibia and Malawi, and they added another victory in the 2024 qualifier with a 1-0 success over Lesotho. They also lost 2-1 to Malawi and 2-0 to eventual champions South Africa in that campaign. It means Comoros have won three of their last six matches in the continental qualifying editions of the regional competition, a considerable improvement on their earlier record. They have never before qualified for the TotalEnergies CAF U-20 Africa Cup of Nations, so doing so this year would be a huge statement of their potential and another significant step forward for the country’s football development. COMOROS COSAFA UNDER-20 CHAMPIONSHIP FINISHES SINCE 1999 2007 – Group stages 2008 – Group stages 2013 – Group stages 2016 – Group stages 2019 – Group stages 2020 – Group stages 2022 – Group stages 2024 – Group stages