The Council of Southern African Football Associations (Cosafa) Cup championship staged in Bloemfontein from 4 to 15 June produced 44 goals. The tournament features 14 nations.
Some of the countries returned home without scoring a single goal, while the double championship winner, Angola, set ablaze the scoring charts.
Prolific Angolan goal-getter Laurindo Aurelio, alias Depu, was the toast of the tournament, scoring in every match.
His scoring ability saw him break the record in the competition, scoring a brace against South Africa in the final on Sunday,15 June.
The final was played in the Toyota Stadium. Teams shift gear to break goal drought in Cosafa Cup
Aurelio’s exploits inspired his country to win the championship back-to-back, as he individually scooped double awards: that of the player of the tournament and the Golden Boot as the top goal-scorer in this year’s Cosafa Cup.
Angola retained its Hollywoodbets Cosafa title with a 3 – 0 victory over hosts South Africa.
Aurelio extended his goal tally to 13, as he collected back-to-back Golden Boots, having also won it last year.
This tally is four more than second-placed Felix Badenhorst from Eswatini.
Angola finished the tournament undefeated. South Africa managed to score five goals in the competition and scraped through to the final – thanks to Mozambique and Zimbabwe drawing their matches.
The chronic challenge experienced by strikers, failing to convert golden opportunities, saw some games end goalless.
The inability of the 14 nations’ goal poachers to convert the scoring chances they created saw their teams even fail to progress to the semifinal held on Friday, 13 June.
Some nations were eliminated based on a slight difference in goals, despite potential opportunity.
Retired footballer Benjamin Reed was highly impressed with the goal-scoring exploits of Angolan striker Aurelio.
“This is a type of a striker who, first and foremost, knows his role: scoring goals. Others aspects of the game will follow,” he said.
Reed is the all-time top goalscorer for Bloemfontein Celtic, with 75 goals. He was a member of the club’s 1985 Mainstay Cup winning team.
He also played for Bafana Bafana.
He had a stint with other clubs that include Kaizer Chiefs and Manning Rangers.
Reed is known for his fierce pace and appetite for scoring goals.
Most of the coaches have lamented missed scoring opportunities in games they believed they should have won convincingly.
Botswana’s incumbent head coach, Morena Ramorebodi, for instance bemoaned missed chances in a match against Comoros.
The fixture ended without goals and the South African born, however ,was happy with the performance of his warriors.
Angola has show to have an appetite for goals, having scored six goals in all three matches in group B: winning 4 – 0 against Lesotho, 1– 0 against Malawi and playing to a 1 – 1 draw against Namibia.
