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There have been many magical matches in the Cosafa Cup since the competition was first played in 1997, with moments that have been written into southern African football folklore.

NAMIBIA vs SOUTH AFRICA, 24 January 1998

One of the great early moments in the Cosafa Cup came in the second tournament held in 1998 as Namibia stunned South Africa’s Fifa World Cup-bound stars with a 3-2 victory in Windhoek.

The victory made Namibia at the time only the third team from the southern African region to defeat Bafana Bafana after Zimbabwe and Zambia, and was one of the finest hours for coach Rustin Mogane at the country’s Independence Stadium.

South Africa had not competed in the inaugural Cosafa Cup competition the year before, but with the World Cup in France looming, caretaker coach Jomo Sono was eager to give his squad a run.

They arrived in Windhoek for the game with most of their top stars, including emerging teenager Benni McCarthy, Phil Masinga, Mark Fish and Brian Baloyi.

And all appeared to be going to plan as Thabo Mooki put South Africa ahead six minutes before half-time, driving a low shot past home goalkeeper Ronny Kanalelo.

But shortly afterwards, Namibia were back level as Bafana Bafana hesitated at the back and 31-year-old Stanley Goagoseb was able to drill the ball into the roof of the net.

South Africa were back in front just past the hour mark when McCarthy showed some excellent skills to dribble past three defenders and set up Masinga for the easiest of finishes. It looked as though the visitors had the game sewn up, before Bimbo Tjihero blasted home a free-kick just a minute from the end to make the score 2-2 and send the fixture into extra-time.

The decisive moment of the game came in the 100th minute when Johannes ‘Congo’ Hindjou dazzled the South African defence with some fast footwork and his cross was met by Berlin Auchumeb to send the home crowd into ecstasy.

MADAGASCAR vs NAMIBIA, 28 May 2015

Namibia booked their place in the final of the 2015 Cosafa Cup with an epic 3-2 victory over Madagascar in a see-saw semi-final that will forever go down as a classic clash in the competition.

The Brave Warriors would go on to lift the title after a far more routine 2-0 victory over Mozambique, but not before they had to come through a huge test against the Malagasy.

Peter Shalulile got the winner for the Brave Warriors six minutes from time after Namibia had led early on, but then fell behind to two quick-fire goals from the islanders.

Benson Shilongo gave Namibia the lead on 18 minutes with a neat finish, but Sarivahy Vombola, who would end up as top-scorer in the 2015 Cosafa Cup, profited from two defensive errors from the Namibians to turn the tables and make the score 2-1 in Madagascar’s favour.

Namibia did not panic, though, and Shilongo equalised just past the half-hour mark in what was a frenetic start to the game. Both sides had their chances after that, with Shalulile in particular missing a sitter that he would have scored 99 times out of 100.

He finally did get the winner when he turned home a cross to send the Namibian squad into rapturous celebration.