Friday, March 29, 2024

Player Rater: Gabon 0 – 1 Zambia

Justin Shonga scored his second goal for Zambia in four days to give Zambia a morale boosting 1 – 0 win over Gabon in Libreville. This marked coach Sven Vandebroecks first win as coach for the Chipolopolo.

The ZamFoot Crew takes a look at how the players faired in this game.

Toaster Nsabata 7/10 – Looked very assured in goal and was on top of things in the area

Gideon Sichone 7/10 – What a debut! He didn’t let anything pass his side. He knew when to push up and hold back. Complemented very well with Lubambo Musonda.

Luka Banda 7/10 – Cool and calm. Never panicked and dealt with everything thrown at him. He could be in that position to stay.

Isaac Shamujopa 5/10 -Tough tackling but was exposed on a couple of occasions in dangerous circumstances. Partly also because he had to do a lot of covering for Lawrence Chungu.

Lawrence Chungu 4/10 – Found a tricky winger today who made easy work for the tough tackling defender. He struggled to keep the winger in his pocket

Salulani Phiri 6/10 – Another honest and diligent display by the holding midfielder. He did the dirty work for the team.

Enock Mwepu 9/10 – Picked Justin Shonga with a sublime pass from his own half to provide the assist for the goal. His ability to fetch and carry the ball is exceptional. Defended well and pushed up very well always looking for that killer pass

Clatous Chama 7.5/10 – Saw a lot of the ball in the midfield and showed great ability working with the ball. He just needed that final ball killer pass to complete it all. He also did extremely well tracking back to defend

Lubambo Musonda 8/10 – He did very good work on the right flank. Apart from his usual attacking flair, he fought had for the team always in position to support Sichone in defense.

Bruce Musakanya 6/10 – He seemed a little off the pace and hardly thrived playing just behind the lone striker.

Justin Shonga 8/10 – He had to work hard leading the line and was usually isolated. But he still managed to get the goal though he could have at least got a brace or hat-trick had he converted the pass from Musakanya or not been unfortunate to see his goal ruled off-side

Substitutes

Jack Chirwa 5/10 – Came on for Enock Mwepu. He did not do much to influence the match but gave Zambia an edge when defending.

Lawrence Mulenga 7/10 – Came for Toaster Nsabata in the 63rd minute. Made a point blank save seconds after he was brought on. Earns him full points.

Ghampani Lungu 6/10 – Came on for Bruce Musakanya in the 66th minute. He was pushed on the left wing. Nothing came from his wing but he was involved in some of the beautiful play displayed by Zambia in the final quarter of the game.

Lazarous Kambole 6/10 – Nothing to write home about for Shonga in the 66th minute. One chance he had at using his power and pace was foiled when he was unfairly fouled with only the goal ahead of him.

Spencer Sautu 7/10 – Stabilised the Zambian midfield when he came on for Musonda and was finding a lot of space on the right.

Solomon Sakala – Came on late for Chungu but not rated

Coach Sven Vandenbroeck 8/10

He picks his first win as Chipolopolo coach away. A better game by his team despite playing some fringe players; the team played with purpose and some urgency. Unlike the game against Namibia where the two base midfielders looked content to hold back, he released Mwepu to play box to box which allowed the team to thrive in attack. He made nine changes to the starting line-up indicating that he has his “eyes on the prize” taking full advantage of the friendly to have 360 degree assessment of his squad ahead of the crucial back to back games against Guinea Bissau. He made us of all his subs giving almost all the players in his squad a chance to play.

 

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3 Comments

  1. ZEd was disappointing against Namibia. I can’t work out whether Zed was bad or Namibia has improved.
    -Maybe eager to please the new coach- there were a few missed chances by patson and A mulenga
    – a few times the ball was poorly controlled and ran way from the player (? the artificial surface).
    – F Sakala badly needs a goal to settle his nerves.
    Overall Namibia seemed to have worked out how to blunt a potent attacking side. They didn’t allow anyone to settle and have time on the ball…
    Its was good in a sense to put the coach under pressure and see how he reacted- maybe FAZ should have organized a couple more friendlies. A draw wasn’t a bad result but points were dropped, in my opinion.

    • That’s true points were dropped. 1 point out of a possible 6 is not good at all. I agree the coach should have been given a few more friendlies before the game.

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