Madagascar beat South Africa 4-3 on Sunday in a penalty shootout after their 2018 Cosafa Cup quarter final match at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane ended goalless.
The home nation got off to a positive start as they controlled possession stakes and dictated the flow of the game.
Bafana created their first scoring opportunity as early as the fifth minute when a right-sided free-kick was cleverly worked into the Madagascar box, but Lebohang Maboe shot just wide of the target from 14 yards out.
Luther Singh proved to be a real threat for the Madagascar defence and should have opened the scoring in the 20th minute when he broke through on goal, but he was denied in a one-on-one with goalkeeper Jean Leda.
Madagascar did not really offer much in the way of attack in the opening half, but they did manage a stinging shot on goal courtesy of Jaotombo Bourah just after the half hour mark. His 24-yard effort, however, sailed over the crossbar.
Maboe had another great scoring shot for Bafana in the 35th minute when he broke into the box from the right, but Leda was on hand yet again for Madagascar to stop him from close range.
The half ended goalless.
Madagascar definitely started the second half a lot more positively and came close to scoring three minutes in when Bourah got in behind the South African defence, but he was thwarted by Reyaad Pieterse.
Just after the hour mark Aubrey Modiba was unlucky not to find the back of the net when his powerful 16-yard shot from the left-back struck the crossbar.
Bafana threw players forward in search of a winner in the dying minutes of the match, but they could not find the back of the net as the game ended goalless.
The match had to be decided via penalties which saw Jamie Webber and Singh miss their penalties as Madagascar progressed to the cup semifinals 4-3 via the shootout.
South Africa will now take on Namibia in the Plate semifinals of the Cosafa Cup while Madagascar will take on Zambia in the Cup semifinal.
Cerdit: www.supersport.com
