Friday, March 29, 2024

Zambia U20 make easy work of South Africa in friendly match

The Zambia U20 national team continued their build up for he 2017 Zambia U20 Africa Cup of Nations finals with an easy stroll over their South African counter parts who they beat 2 – 1.

With some key players such as Mangani Banda, Boyd Musonda, Fashion Sakala, Conlyde Luchanga and Patson Daka missing from the squad owing to club duties, coach ‘Quick Silver’ Bestone Chambeshi showed that he has enough depth in the squad as the available lads dominated their visitors in all departments from the start.

It was the usual backline of Prosper Chiluya and Shemmy Mayembe as full backs with skipper Solomon Sakala partnering Moses Nyondo in central defense though the latter had to be substituted in he 5th minute owing to injury for Benson Chali.

Portugal based Emmanuel Banda played the holding midfield role putting up an excellent performance with Harrison Chisala playing right in front of him in the engine room.

Denmark based Kenneth Kalunga and Chrispin Sakulanda where on the flanks with Edward Chilufya leading the line while goal scorer Enock Mwepu played right behind him.

Samson Banda in the Zambian goal was hardly troubled in the first quarter of the match as Zambia searched for a goal with Banda pulling the strings from deep in midfield.

The South Africans were not doing enough to close down the midfield triangle of Banda, Chisala and Mwepu and always looked second best in he midfield battles.

Chilufya was also finding space with his pace in the defensive pockets of the vsitors but was unlucky not to have registered a goal as he was twice denied by the brilliance of Sanele Tshabalala in the South African goal.

Zambia however broke the deadlock in the 27th minute with a Mwepu towering header from a corner which left the keeper no chance.

Despite having the greater share of possession the Zambians failed to extend the lead and the score remained a narrow 1 – 0 lead at half-time.

At half time, Sipho Mbule replaced Sydney Mtshweni and South Africa were looking a different side after the restart.

They started to dominate play with dimunitive Sibongakonke Mbatha coming out of his shell to run rings around the Zambian midfield.

A well taken free kick in the 51st minute by Khanyisa Mayo just edged Banda’s upright and the introduction of Liam Jordan in the 57th minute gave them more stability with his  lose control.

However, all the good work the South Africans were doing amounted to nothing as Zambia broke on the right wing with Sakulanda whose low ball was turned in by Aghmat Ceres who had Chilufya breathing down his shoulder for the second goal of the day.

The visitors were given a lucky break when the referee gave them a soft penalty for a foul in the box despite the defender getting the ball first.

Jordan stepped up to convert the spot kick in the 73rd minute and he would later miscue a shot on top of the box as they desperately searched for an equaliser.

Zambia further introduced Siame Musonda, Joseph Phiri and Edward Tembo for Kalunga, Banda and Sakulanda but they had little impact in helping change the shape of the game.

With four games played and winning three since the Cosafa U20 triumph in December, Chambeshi’s looks confident ahead of the kickoff of the U20 tournament on 26th February.

The young Chipolopolo were have only been beaten by the Barcelona B side.

Zambia XI

 Samson Banda, Moses Nyondo (Benson Chali), Prosper Chiluya, Solomon Sakala, Shemmy Mayembe, Emmanuel Banda  (Joseph Phiri), Chrispin Sakulanda (Edward Tembo), Harrison Chisala, Enock Mwepu, Edward Chilufya, Kenneth Kalunga (Siame Musonda), Emmanuel Banda

South Africa XI

Sanele Ishabalala, Tercius Malepe, Siyabonga Ngezana, Shane Saralina, Wiseman Meyiwa, Sydney Mtshweni, Aghmat Ceres, Katlego Mohamme, Sibongakonke Mbatha, Kobamelo Kodisang, Khanyisa Mayo

Related Articles

21 Comments

  1. I stand to be corrected here, is the goalkeeper Mangani Banda (from Zanaco fc) OR Samson Banda ? If it is Samson Banda,which club is he from (have not heard of him before) ? Wish the Under 20 team the very best as they battle for a place at the junior World Cup ( pakokola bane since 2007 sure ).

    Let them not get carried away with the victory over SA for second time in a row (after the 2016 COSAFA cup final display right at the SA’s own backtyard) .

  2. Excellent article though do not like the heading. A scoreline of 2-1 does not reflect “easy work”. on the football side it looks like we have a backup team ready which is goo however we need to have another friendly with the full first team which includes Fashion and Patson to get them to gel before the tournament. Even if its against a local club if we cant get an international team.

  3. Well done to the lads and I agree 2-1 is a score line that does not reflect any “easy work”. They hae done very well in the friendlies so far I hope this form continues on into the tournament.

    Side news, it looks like HR will be Bafana next coach. It looks like many of the SAFA bosses are set on him taking over.

    • During the Under 20 Zone Six games which Zambia hosted and football games were played at Nkoloma stadium, the FINAL pitted South Africa and hosts Zambia and South Afriica WON the gold medal after beating Zambia (come from behind If I recall well).

    • IN 2012 (December) during the Under 20 Zone Six games which Zambia hosted and football games were played at Nkoloma stadium, the FINAL pitted South Africa and hosts Zambia and South Afriica WON the gold medal after beating Zambia (come from behind If I recall well).

    • I can even see that you struggled to post this comment. It refused to be posted but you persisted. It shows that it will never happen.

  4. The goals are not coming easy for this side. Why? The last three games won were won with a 2 – 1 scoreline. This is certainly not a good return considering the dorninance reported that the team had over its opponents as reported by Zamfoot.Enock seems to be the most consistent goal scorer but his main job in the team is not to score goals.

Leave a reply

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

[td_block_social_counter facebook="InsideZamFoot" twitter="zambianfootball" style="style8 td-social-boxed td-social-font-icons" tdc_css="eyJhbGwiOnsibWFyZ2luLWJvdHRvbSI6IjM4IiwiZGlzcGxheSI6IiJ9LCJwb3J0cmFpdCI6eyJtYXJnaW4tYm90dG9tIjoiMzAiLCJkaXNwbGF5IjoiIn0sInBvcnRyYWl0X21heF93aWR0aCI6MTAxOCwicG9ydHJhaXRfbWluX3dpZHRoIjo3Njh9" custom_title="Stay Connected" block_template_id="td_block_template_8" f_header_font_family="712" f_header_font_transform="uppercase" f_header_font_weight="500" f_header_font_size="17" border_color="#dd3333"]
- Advertisement -spot_imgspot_imgspot_imgspot_img

Trending

P