South Africa booked their place in the 2025 COSAFA Cup final with a 3-1 victory over The Comoros at the Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein on Friday.

The hosts proved too strong for Les Coelacanths, who fell in the semi-final of the COSAFA Cup for the second year in a row.

Bafana Bafana opened the scoring in the eighth minute as Kamogelo Sebelebele made a brilliant solo run down the left side of the box and along the baseline, beating Kassim Hadji before his cross hit Idris Mohamed and went into the net for an own goal.

South Africa doubled their lead in the 14th minute through Boitumelo Radiopane after a perfectly weighted pass down the middle from Gape Moralo, which Radiopane slotted past the rushing goalkeeper for his first senior international goal.

The Comoros had their first chance in the 24th min, as Affane Djambae beat the offside trap and collected the ball in the box, but could not keep his effort on target from a tight angle.

Les Coelacanths pulled one back in the 30th min, as Hadji’s cross was missed by Djambae but fell to Ibrahim Madi who beat goalkeeper Thakasani Mbanjwa to find the bottom right corner for his second goal of the tournament.

Djambae had the opportunity to draw his side level in the 41st minute but could not do Dine Hamidou Ali’s cross justice, heading the ball into the ground and right of the post.

In the 42 min, South Africa nearly capitalised on a scrappy situation as Sebelebele was dispossessed by Mohamed in the box, who in turn had the ball stolen by Radiopane who turned and fired, hitting the post before goalkeeper Naïme Mchindra managed to gather the ball.

South Africa were denied by the woodwork again in the 44th min, as Mduduzi Shabalala cut the ball back to Kabelo Dlamini on the edge of the box, who curled that ball towards the bottom left corner but struck the left upright.

After being denied the opener, Sebelebele scored his first for South Africa in the 60th minute, capitalising on an error at the back. Zainou Mohamed had his pass deflected by Moralo into Sebelebele’s path, who struck the ball sweetly into the bottom left corner.

Aden McCarthy and Sebelebele linked-up on the left touchline in the 70th minute, with Sebelebele carrying the ball into the box before McCarthy’s shot was blocked.

In the 79th minute, The Comoros were reduced to 10 men as Naimoudine Assane received a second yellow card for a late challenge on Sebelebele, who was headed towards the box.

The Comoros maintained the majority of possession in the last 10 minutes, but could not create any threatening chances.

Les Coelacanths will battle with Madagascar for the bronze medal in the curtain-raiser at the Toyota Stadium on Sunday before Bafana Bafana face Angola, who are searching for back-to-back titles, in the final.

South Africa (2) 3 (I. Mohamed (og) 8’, Radiopane 14’, Sebelebele 60’)

Comoros (1) 1 (Madi 30’)

SA: T. Mbanjwa, P. Dithejane (Y. Mfolozi 67’), I. Okon, A. McCarthy, M. Sebelebele, K. Dlamini (V. Letlapa 46’), G. Moralo (S. Barns 83’), S. Mkhize, K. Mngonyama, M. Shabalala (M. Nemtajela 46’), B. Radiopane (S. Letsoalo 71’)

Comoros: N. Mchindra, I. Mohamed, Y. Kari, D. Hamidou Ali, N. Ahmed, Z. Mohamed (A. El Farouk 72’), H. Ahmed (N. Assane 46’), A. Djembe, I. Madi, K. Hadji (Y. Médard 46’), I. Djoudja (K. Mohamed 83’)