Zim through to quarter-finals

Zimbabwes destiny was no longer in their hands after drawing 2-2 with the Crocodiles of Lesotho on Monday at the same venue.

Zimbabwe had beaten Mauritius 3-0 in the first.

Lesotho went into the tie against Mauritius needing to win by a four goal margin to book their place into the next round.

Zimbabwe the crowd backing Mauritius, Lesotho were restricted to just a single goal that came in the 88th minute when Mothoana Bokang hit the net from a hard shot in the box.

The goal came after Mauritius had been reduced to 10-men in the second half after substitute Obrien Kevin Jean Louis was expelled for rough play.

Both Lesotho and Mauritius are no longer going to take part in the competition as they finished the fist round second and last respectively.

Lesotho were the better team for the day in terms of possession and could have scored through their former youth international Musso Sello who missed a good chance midway in the first half.

Bokang nearly drilled Lesotho into the lead after the half hour mark but blazed his effort wide with only Mauritian goalkeeper Aboo Augustin at his mercy.

Mauritius midfielder LL Fabrice Pithia had a good game unlike the match he played against Zimbabwe.

He made meaningful runs into the box but was let down by Jean Pierre Andy who was too slow to the ball most of the times.

Andy woke up from his slumber in the second half when he began troubling the Lesotho backline with a couple of runs into the box.

Vividadeo Boodhun, the Mauritius central defender had a busy day in the park, thwarting several raids right until the final whistle.

After the game, Mauritius coach Patel said he was happy with an improved performance by his team.

I think we played better then in the game against Zimbabwe.

We had improved as we are still building up our side, said Akbar Patel.

Patel also believed that the alliance by Zimbabwean fans to rally behind Club M, as his team is known, gave them the courage.

Lesotho coach Leslie Notsi said his side had missed a lot of chances in the first half.

We failed to score in the first half and only did that later in the game, said Notsi-CAJ News