Zimbabwe remain course for a record fifth title at the COSAFA Castle Cup on Sunday by edging out Swaziland for a semifinal place. By contrast, hosts and defending champions South Africa are out after losing to Tanzania.
The goalscoring exploits of Ovidy Karuru continued as Zimbabwe took their tally in four games to 12 -- and the hitman took his own individual total to six as the Warriors beat Swaziland 2-1 at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace.
Elias Maguri scored the only goal for Tanzania, who are guests at the annual southern African championship, as they upset the hosts.
It was virtually their only real attack of the game, but a superb 18th-minute finish after a clever ball knocked over the top of a makeshift South Africa defence was enough to settle a cagey contest.
Stout defending and poor home finishing kept their lead intact until the end, meaning that Tanzania now play Zambia in the first of Wednesday's semifinals at the Moruleng Stadium.
Zimbabwe will take on Lesotho in the other semifinal with high hopes of going all the way, despite the fatigue of having come through a gruelling first-round programme.
Sunday's win was the fourth game in a week for Zimbabwe and at times the tiredness did show in their game.
However, they were still value for their victory, dominating the early stages of the last of the quarterfinals and had already had a handful of chances before Karuru scored the opener in the 16th minute.
He is now second highest all-time scorer in the COSAFA Castle Cup behind compatriot Peter Ndlovu, who has eight goals.
"We still could have finished the game off in the first half if we had taken our three of four chances," said coach Sunday Chidzambwa.
Felix Badenhorst equalised just after half-time with a close-range header, and the Swazis could have taken the lead after that.
"We were much better in the second half," said their Dutch coach Pieter de Jongh. "It was a game with two faces. Zimbabwe dominated the first and we came back after some changes at half-time."
The outcome was settled by Zimbabwe substitute Knox Mutizwa who scored with a clever near-post flick at the corner some 11 minutes from time.