Zambia’s U-20 national team has put one foot into the semifinals of the COSAFA U-20 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers after thrashing Comoros 3-0 on Monday.

The Young Chipolopolo Boys, who are the record winners of the COSAFA U-20 Championship, started the match authoritatively, opening the scoring in the fifth minute through Tumelo Mununga.

Abel Nyirongo doubled Zambia’s lead in the 17th minute, while Thomas Mwanza also found the back of the net 21 minutes later. However, his goal was ruled out for a foul in the build-up.

With Zambia dominating play, Comoros were reduced to 10 men in the 45th minute after Ikrame Abdallah was shown a red card for a foul. The first half ended 2-0 in Zambia’s favour.

After the restart, Zambia continued to dominate the match, and in the 64th minute, Kayula Chinunda extended the lead after pouncing on a rebound from close range following Nyirongo’s saved header to make it 3-0.

Things got worse for Comoros eight minutes later when Othman Elyas was sent off for deliberately stepping on Andrew Mwape, reducing the team to nine men.

There was little Comoros could do to overturn the scoreline as Perry Mutapa’s side held on to their lead and kept their second clean sheet of the tournament.

Zambia will face Botswana on Wednesday in their final group-stage match, but could seal a place in the semifinals if Botswana draws or loses to Malawi today.