South Africa and Malawi are set to meet in the Plate final at the 2019 Cosafa Cup on Friday at Moses Mabhida Stadium.
Both came through tense matches, with South Africa beating Uganda 4-2 on penalties while Malawi had to score a 90th minute goal to beat Comoros Island to set up the final showdown.
The two teams once met in the semifinals of the Plate in 2015 where the Flames won 5-4 on penalties.
The Flames have had a very good campaign, scoring 10 goals in five games and are likely to deploy an attacking formation against the hosts.
Mentor Meke Mwase is likely to maintain his preferred first 11, with Richard Mbulu and Gabadinho Mhango all leading the attack.
However, it’s not yet known whether Mwase will start Ernest Kakhobwe, whose blunder led to Zambia’s equalizing goal in the 89th minute before losing 4-2 on penalties.
Charles Petrol is out of the match as he is still recovering from an injury he sustained against Zambia.
On the other part, Bafana Bafana will mostly rely heavily on youngsters who were very unfortunate to lose to Botswana in the quarterfinals as they let a two goal lead slip to bow out of the competition with a 4-2 shoot-out defeat.
Coach Stuart Baxter has excluded players who will be used for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt this month.
Of the two teams, it’s only the Flames who have once won the Plate. They did it in 2015 after overcoming Zambia 1-0 in the final.
