Thursday, March 28, 2024

ZSL Week 1 Round up

After a four-month recess of the local league, Zambians were once again treated to a repast of local football at its best.

ZamFoot’s Davies Lukonde rounds up the highlights of the first Week’s games and results.

The first round did prove to be well worth the wait; drama, goals, skills, you name it, they all came to the fore over the weekend and fans would be quaking with happiness that their much loved Bola Yapa Zed is back.

So, after all is done and said, let’s look at the top six tales that came about from the first week of the league.

POWER DYNAMOS FLATTERS TO DECEIVE

Was always going to be a tough game for Kitwe giants, Lusaka Dynamos have embellished their squad and are expected to wreak havoc for the right to represent the country on the continent.

After coming back from two goals to lead 3-2, Power with their experience should have held on to the result and kill off the tempo of the match.

Of the two teams, you’d feel Lusaka dynamos would be the happy one, not only did they manage to negate power’s pedigree and aura, but they also managed to grab a point when everything seemed to go against them towards the end.

Great start for Patrick Phiri and he’ll be hoping to keep the fire burning– tightening up the loose ends in defense is also a quagmire that needs strengthening in this Dynamo side.

 

NAPSA MEAN BUSINESS

After a generally poor season last year, Napsa are back and crashed a resistant Nchanga Rangers by 3 goals to nil and that will send shivers to the league.

With Zanaco faltering and looking incapable of hitting last season’s heights, watch out for this Napsa side; the might just be the one to break in the top 4 tradition and upset the fashion which has trended for the past few years.

ZANACO ON THE FALL

After a losing of their spinal cord of the team over the break, Zanaco’s chances of returning the super league were quashed. Though they show some guts and managed to qualify for the group stage, Zanaco’s shambles in the transfer market are starting be palpable.

Though they did manage to salvage a point via a Ziyo Tembo volley, the champions look a shadow of them self and will need drastic improvement if they are to match the heights of last season.

NAKAMBALA HOLDS THEIR OWN

If you gave me a chance to predict this one before the game, I would have surely gone for the glamour side of Zambian football.

But it was to the contrary at Chilata, the game seemed a forgone conclusion when best striker in the league Walter Bwalya slammed home in the first half, but the sugar boys had other ideas.

They equalized through Lameck Banda and dug in for the draw.

A great result for the sugar boys considering they were up against one of the behemoth of Zambian football.

REAL NAKONDE LIVES UP TO THE BILLING

After their promotion to the elite league, the Nakonde side was tagged as the new ‘Blackpool’ of the super league. A harsh perception considering they were yet to kick the ball first.

Though it was a barren draw at their home ground, they’ll feel the point is more than they deserved considering their opponents have splashed huge money on quality in the window.

Something to build on for the team which is destined to be involved in a fight to remain in the top flight of Zambian football, the super league.

NKANA TITLE HOPES SUFFERS EARLY SCARE

A result many did not see coming. For Nkana, this will be opportunity missed and if they don’t rectify their shortfalls and get over the result against Zesco in the community shield final, the dream for a record 13th title will be forgone conclusion in no time.

A wake up call for Saileti and co that the games this season will be very tough and utmost concentration is needed.

OTHERS

There were also some good starts for Kabwe Warriors, Nkwazi, Buildicon and Radiants who managed to condemn to a defeat.

The cut above the rest was definitely Buffaloes and NAPSA, they completely demolished their opponents and for all the attacking prowess shown in both games, both the pensioners and the army sponsored kept it shut at the other end. A sign of the balance that exist between defense and attack.

 

Great start to the super league overall and it will be interesting to see how the victors and losers will react to the second round of the league on a special Easter weekend.

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2 Comments

  1. A good recap of the results, but, I personally feel that some of the comments have come a bit too early. this is just the first of the 38 games to be played through out the calendar year and as usual some teams start badly because they did not prepare adequately off season. this could be due to various reasons.
    Some teams have a new character to them: Kabwe Warriors, Zanaco and others lost many players off season because of their philosophy not to hinder a players dreams; Buildcom are new kids on the block; Lusaka Dynamos have almost overhauled their team; Real Nakonde another new Kid on the block (by the way do they have a stadium there at Chiyanga?). Some teams are slow starters naturally. Although of course Zambia Army and Profpund Warriors have started brightly, lets wait until the halfway mark, then we shall have some indication of the direction our game will take.
    All in all, this promises to be some entertaining year.
    To the Zambian commentators on Supersport, please learn to give balanced views when commenting or covering games between Copperbelt and Lusaka based teams, and others out of Lusaka for that matter. You are national broadcasters and do not be biased towards Lusaka teams. This is ‘One Zambia One Nation’.

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