Bafana go down to Flames

Rustenburg - Siyabonga Nhlapo has missed the decisive spot-kick as South Africa suffered a 5-4 penalty shoot-out defeat to Malawi in a 2015 Cosafa Cup plate semifinal clash at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium on Wednesday evening.

The game ended goalless after regulation time.

Marc van Heerden failed to capitalise on Miclam Mhone's penalty miss as the Flames booked their place in the plate final where they will face Zambia who dispatched Ghana 3-0 in the first semifinal on Friday.

For Bafana Bafana the defeat ended a disappointing tournament - they were knocked out of the Cosafa Cup proper in similar fashion by Botswana.

The hosts started the game on the front foot with Motjeka Madisha forcing McDonald Harawa into a fine save with two minutes on the clock.

Harawa getting down well to parry the midfielder's header from a van Heerden free-kick clear of danger.

Van Heerden proved to be South Africa's main protagonist with the AmaZulu fullback picking out Carl Lark with a pin-point cross - the Santos man heading his resulting effort well wide in the 20th minute.

Frustrated, van Heerden charged forward in attempt to carve something out for himself, but he only succeeded in skying his shot over Harawa's crossbar with his weaker right-foot.

Man of the match against Botswana, Thapelo Morena's evening came to a premature end with Shakes Mashaba replacing the Bloemfontein Celtic youngster with Mduduzi Nyanda four minutes before the break.

Bafana Bafana continued to dominate the closing exchanges of the opening stanza, but failed in their attempts as the referee blew for halftime with the game deadlocked.

Malawai improved after the interval enjoying more possession. A succession of injury breaks though hampered what promised to be an exciting encounter with both teams struggling to find their rhythm.

Chances were few and far between with both teams lacking killer instinct in front of goal.

With the end of regulation time approaching both teams looked to settle for spot-kicks and that is how the game would be decided.

Malawi winning the tussle from the spot 5-4.

South Africa: Mabokgwane, Nhlapho, Mngonyama, Daniels, Van Heerden, Lark, Madisha, Morena (Nyanda 41'), Segolela, Motupa (Ekstein 60'), Bhengu (Manyama 63')

Malawi: Harawa, Lanjesi, Fodya, Malata, Sulumba (Mkanda 36'), J.Banda, Kumwenda (Ngalande 83'), Kayira, Mzava, Mhone, Phiri (F.Banda 79')