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The 2010 World Cup hosts South Africa won a morale boosting success with victory in the Cosafa Castle Cup in Bloemfontein, beating Zambia 4-3 on penalties after a goalless draw.in Wednesday’s final.
The win followed a mediocre year for the country, who dropped a dramatic 10 places on Wednesday to 83rd in the latest FIFA world rankings.
South Africa, fielding a second string line-up of locally-based players, had the better of the exchanges between the two teams, twice hitting the crossbar.
Thembinkosi Fanteni struck a thunderbolt against the woodwork in the second half, following up a similar effort from Teko Modise in the first stanza.
But they were ultimately unable to turn their dominance into goals against a competitive Zambian side, who had beaten a full strength South Africa line-up six weeks earlier in a MTN Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
The match was settled on penalties after 90 minutes with Modise netting the winning kick for South Africa.
It was only the second success in 10 years for South Africa in the annual southern African championship. Defending champions Zambia were denied in their bid to win the title for a record fourth time.