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South Africa national football team
COSAFA Cup | Group Stage
Jun 7, 2025 at 2pm UK
Al Salam Stadium
Zimbabwe national football team

South Africa
0 - 0
Zimbabwe

Preview: South Africa vs Zimbabwe - prediction, team news, lineups

Sports Mole previews Saturday's COSAFA Cup clash between South Africa and Zimbabwe, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Familiar foes South Africa and Zimbabwe will be hoping to get their first victory on the board at the COSAFA Cup when they face off at the Free State Toyota Stadium on Saturday afternoon. 

Bafana Bafana are bottom of the group after losing their tournament opener in midweek, while the Warriors are in third place after playing out a goalless draw against Mauritius. 



Match preview

Mfundo Obrigado Vilakazi of South Africa on May 18, 2025

Tournament hosts South Africa got their COSAFA Cup campaign off to a poor start, suffering an opening round 1-0 defeat to last year’s bronze medalists Mozambique on Wednesday in Bloemfontein. 

Despite dictating the game for large periods, maintaining 70% possession across the 90 and firing 11 shots at goal, Bafana Bafana were made to pay for missing several good chances in the 74th minute, when Antonio Sumbane scored what turned out to be the winner for Os Mambas. 

Following the match, head coach Vela Khumalo lamented his side’s wasted opportunities but vowed that his team would take it on the chin and address their issues in front of goal ahead of their second game.

Having also lost to Malawi in African Nations Championship qualifying last month, South Africa have now suffered two defeats in their last three games - albeit with very different squads - which is more than they had lost in their previous 21 matches (W13 D7 L1). 

The host nation now faces a must-win situation in their second match of the competition against Zimbabwe, who they beat in their last two encounters and have not lost to since September 2013. 

Nigeria and Zimbabwe on March 24, 2025

Meanwhile, the addition of the Video Assistant Referee continued to be the main topic of the opening day of the COSAFA Cup when Zimbabwe and Mauritius played to a 0-0 draw in their first match of the competition. 

Thandolwenkosi Ngwenya thought he had given the Warriors the lead in the first half, but VAR intervened and ruled his effort as offside, while in the second half, Mozambique had a goal chalked off for an inadvertent handball, which took an age to decide. 

Zimbabwe’s team captain Andrew Mbeba almost secured a late victory for his team when he got on the end of a pinpoint cross in the 91st minute, but his header flew just wide of Kevin Jean-Louis’s upright.

Stand-in coach Tagarira Marange admitted after the game that his team were not ruthless enough in their tournament opener - with that result, the Warriors are now winless in their last seven matches, dating back to mid-October. 

 

South Africa COSAFA Cup form:



Zimbabwe COSAFA Cup form:



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Team News

Lee Ahshene of South Africa on May 25, 2025

Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper Bruce Bvuma withdrew from Bafana Bafana’s squad just before their match against Mozambique due to personal reasons, and he has been replaced by Chippa United shot-stopper Darren Johnson for the remainder of the tournament. 

Sepana Letsoalo struggled to make much of an impact in attack for South Africa in midweek, and he could be replaced by one of Boitumelo Radiopane or Mokibelo Ramabu for this weekend’s clash. 

Scottland FC midfielder Nathan Mutasa was called up to the Zimbabwe squad just before their first match of the competition. He was not included in their matchday squad against Mauritius but is likely to feature this weekend. 

Kennedy Mupomba was withdrawn early in the second half in midweek and could make way for Mafios Chiweta, who made an impressive cameo off the bench in the final 30 minutes against the Dodos.

 

South Africa possible starting lineup:

Mbanjwa; Dithejane, Okon, McCarthy, Letlapa; Duba, Moralo, Dlamini; Sebelebele; Radiopane, Barns 

Zimbabwe possible starting lineup:

Mapisa; Kaseke, Mbeba, Chapinduka, Takaedza; Makunike, Padera, Chiweta; Ndlovu, Ngwenya, Meke



SM words green background

We say: South Africa 1-1 Zimbabwe

While Bafana Bafana have the better recent record in this fixture, their performance in the first match was far from inspiring, as they failed to capitalise on their dominance in possession and were caught out several times on the counterattack. 

Zimbabwe were also guilty of failing to make the most of their chances in their opening match, and based on both these teams' performances in midweek, we feel there will be nothing to split them in this one. 

 

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.





 


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Written by
Devesh Jaganath

Data Analysis

Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats, suggests the most likely outcome of this match is a South Africa win with a probability of 75.48%. A draw has a probability of 18% and a win for Zimbabwe has a probability of 6.56%.

The most likely scoreline for a South Africa win is 2-0 with a probability of 17.91%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome are 1-0 (17.87%) and 3-0 (11.97%). The likeliest drawn scoreline is 0-0 (8.91%), while for a Zimbabwe win it is 0-1 (3.68%).


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