Sundowns target COSAFA title after five-goal semi-final win

29 August 2026

By Mpumi Manyisi

Sundowns will look to complete their COSAFA campaign by lifting the trophy after a convincing 5-0 victory over hosts and former champions Gaborone United secured their place in the final against Zesco.

The emphatic win came in the second semi-final, but coach Godfrey Sapula insists his side will approach the decider with respect for their opponents while remaining committed to imposing their own style of play.

Speaking to SABC Sport, Sapula said Sundowns had studied Zesco carefully and understood the quality required to reach the final of what he described as a CAF Champions League Qualifier.

“At this level you know this is a CAF Champions League Qualifier, obviously the strong sides will be here, so for us we’ve got to focus on our own game. I mean we did our analysis and we are going to give respect to them again,” Sapula said.

He said the team’s preparation would include detailed analysis of every opponent, while their focus remained firmly on achieving their own ambitions.

“We want to give respect to all the teams that we are playing against because we’ve got to do due diligence work in terms of the analysis so that we know exactly how our game plan is going to be like.

“Again, we are driven by our own ambition, we are going to remain humble and make sure that we prepare the best way possible because our objective is not reached yet because we want to win the trophy and for us to do that we need to play very well against Zesco.

“We know it’s not going to be an easy game, they are in the final on merit, they played well and won their games. So, we are gonna give respect to them but yeah we are gonna try and impose our own game and make sure that we reach our target and our objective.”

Sapula’s comments came after Sundowns produced a dominant scoreline against Gaborone United, although the coach said the match was more competitive than the final result suggested.

He highlighted the opening phase as a particularly demanding period, with the hosts applying pressure high up the pitch and committing additional players forward in an attempt to disrupt Sundowns’ build-up.

“I think the players were really good but it was not an easy game, especially in the first quarter of the game, the first 15, 20 minutes,” the coach added.

“I think they also tried to press us high, they brought more players to press high and we struggled a bit to deal with that but we found a solution that if you bypass the first press with a chip to our midfielders, then we can turn and utilise the spaces on the side.”

That adjustment allowed Sundowns to find a way through the initial pressure and exploit wider areas of the pitch. Despite the eventual five-goal margin, Sapula’s assessment was that the players had to adapt before taking control of the semi-final.

The final now gives Sundowns the opportunity to turn their strong semi-final performance into silverware. Sapula said the team would remain humble in its preparations, but made clear that reaching the final alone had not fulfilled the squad’s objective.

Sundowns will therefore enter the match seeking to combine the discipline shown in their preparation with the attacking authority that delivered victory over Gaborone United. Their immediate task is to overcome Zesco, a side Sapula believes earned its place in the final through a series of strong performances.