Harare — ZAMBIA left it until the dying stages of the game to edge past a battling Namibia and book a place in the semi-finals of the Cosafa Senior Challenge at Rufaro yesterday.

Three-time winners Chipolopolo will now face Mozambique at Barbourfields on Thursday for a place in the final.

With the match seemingly headed for a penalty shoot-out, striker Stoppila Sunzu buried his effort home from a crowded box after Zambia had won a corner in the 85th minute.

Chipolopolo had earlier missed an opportunity to take the lead when Henry Banda had his penalty saved by tall Brave Warriors goalkeeper Attiel Mbaha.

The Zambians were also lucky to finish with 11 men after Mwewa Sakala was booked twice but somehow South Africa referee Basit Ebrahim forgot to send him off.

Sakala received the first yellow card in the first half and was then booked again in the 55th minute for rough play.

When Ebrahim flashed the second yellow card to Sakala he then turned his attention to the Namibian player who had been felled by the Zambian and summoned the medics onto the pitch.

But after seeing to it that the Namibian player had been treated Ebrahim resumed play without effecting the red card on Sakala.

Zambian coach Herve Renard appeared to have noticed the referee's mistake and hauled off Sakala barely a minute later and replaced him with Thomas Nyirenda.

Namibia coach Tom Saintfiet protested in vain to fourth official Kenny Marange but Ebrahim allowed the substitution to take place. After the game, Zambia assistant coach George Mwandamila refused to discuss the incident.

"We created chances and I think we will keep on improving with the games. The coach (Renard) came with a new system and we are still trying it out. We failed to penetrate the Namibia defence as we had expected, " he said.

Mwandamila, however, chose to keep his cards close to his chest ahead of the semi-finals.

"Football is like a war. I cannot divulge my game plan to the media because it will be in front of everyone," he said.

Namibia coach Saintfiet, was happy with his side's performance despite losing to Zambia. He said the writing was already on the wall even before they came to Zimbabwe for the Cosafa Senior Challenge that Zambia would win.

"I never said that I was confident that we would win this game. Zambia were the favourites and we were the underdogs.

"The best we could have done was a 0-0 draw and we nearly got that. Our plan had been to defend and we did that for 88 minutes of the game.

"We only attacked Zambia in the last 15 minutes of the game and hoped that we would go for a penalty shoot-out.

"In the game itself, Zambia were two classes ahead of us but I had hoped it would be 50-50 in the penalties,' said Saintfeit.

Saintfeit said he had noticed Ebrahim's mistake but was quick to point out that it did not contribute to their defeat.

Zambia were the favourites to win this tie and appeared on course for a comfortable win after dominating the early stages of the game.

Chipolopolo were on fire right from the first whistle as they forced the Brave Warriors to back pedal and defend.

The Brave Warriors managed to resist everything that the Zambians threw at them with gangly defender Ralph Ellinger doing everything in his power to keep the former champions at bay.

Towering George Hummel and goalkeeper Attiel Mbaha cleaned every ball from the box in the first half.

Zambia had good chances from Felix Sunzu, the younger brother to Stoppila who came near with a header just less than two metres from the line but Mbaha, outstanding all afternoon, pushed the ball over the bar for what could have been a goal in the ninth minute.

The Zambians continued to do the asking with Luka Lunga forcing Namibian defender Levi Swartbooi to play the ball out for a corner in the 19th minute.

Stoppila Sunzu spurned a good offer when he received a header unmarked but Mbaha once again pulled off a fine save.

Ellinger received a cut on the left eye as he collided with Stopilla but that did not deter the giant defender from pushing the balls away from danger.

Namibia continued to live on the edge with Henry Banda hitting the cross bar with Mbaha beaten in the 23rd minute.

Jimmy Chisenga whipped in a fine cross that Stopilla headed wide after being given room inside the box.

Felix got another chance when he beat a drawn out Mbaha but the ball somehow curled away from the empty net to trickle just inches wide of upright.

Even the noisy band of Zambian supporters in the Vietnam had begun celebrating only to be disappointed as the ball changed direction and trickled away from goal.

Namibia were a more composed side in the second half as their captain Quinton Jacobs began spraying passes in attack.

Voted the man of the match, Jacobs had a good reading of game in midfield and employed counter attacks for his side.

With each attack in the second half the Namibians began to grown in confidence and poured forward in numbers.

Zambia won a penalty in the 59th minute when Ellinger fouled Lunga.

But Mbaha dived to his right to block Banda's low effort with the Brave Warriors goalkeeper needing a second attempt to pluck the ball to safety.

TEAMS:

Namibia: A. Mbaha, G. Hummel, H. Toromba, L. Swartbooi H. Isaacks 81st minute), G. Nakuta, R. Ellinger, S. Goagab, Q. Jacobs, N. Karongee, R. Louw (E. A. Asino 71st minute), S. Plaatjies (E. Kamuhanga 53rd minute), T. Shipahu

Zambia: J. Banda, J. Chisenga, M. Sakala (T. Nyirenda 55th minute), H. Himonde, D. Banda, S. Sunzu, H. Banda (A. Mukuka 62nd minute), S. Mwanza, F. Sunzu, (J. Ndlovu 46th minute), L. Lunga, E. Sakala