Zambia first choice goalkeeper Kennedy Kapalayi Mweene will always have fond memories of a Germany 2006 World Cup qualifier against Congo at Brazaville at the Stade Muncipal de Pointe Noire Stadium on 1oth October 2004.
For the first time since 1988, Zambia didn’t not feature at the African Cup of Nations in Tunisia earlier in the year.
After Patrick Phiri failed to deliver what most Chipolopolo faithful consider a birth right, they demanded for a complete overhaul of the team and then coach Kalusha Bwalya assisted by Ben ‘Pabili’ Bamfuchile oblidged.
At Pointe Noire Stadium on a Sunday afternoon, an unknown goalkeeper then Mweene was given the nod ahead of the more established then Kalililo Kakonje, who was the first choice Under-23 goalkeeper.
In attack, there was one boy from Luanshya’s Mpatamatu township, Collins Mbesuma. Mbesuma struck a brace in the first half and seven minutes after the hour mark, he completed his hatrick. Hostile environment and you bang a hatrick…Legendary stuff!
Then came madness, as Zambia failed to defend from set pieces and allowed 2 goals and the host crawled back to set up a dramatic finish in Congo and the chance of an extraordinary comeback but luckily there no fairytale come back for the Congolese.
Mbesuma got the plaudits while Mweene was blamed.
A decade later, Mweene is a legend having been voted the best goalkeeper on the continent in 2012.
But the Sundowns goalkeeper is probably the third choice at his club and this has led to whispers from a section of Chipolopolo fans that it’s time one of the three Chipolopolo Boys’ untouchables to be benched.
With Zesco United goalkeeper Jacob ‘Spide Boy’ Banda going 390 minutes from open play without conceding at the just ended CHAN tournament, some believe the AFCON qualifier against Congo next month is the perfect time to hand the 27 year old shot stopper.
Pointe Noire Stadium is not Rubavu Stadium, it will be filled to capacity.
Do you think it’s time Spider Boy should be handed a starting birth ahead of Mweene
Yes time has come for that. Mweene should also move out of that team unless he has decided he wants to retire. He should consider that Goal minders ripen with age.
Yes Jacob should be given that Mantle. Mweene should also move away from that team. Unless of course he wants to retire, otherwise goal minders ripen with age and he should soldier on somewhere else.
Yes on a tournaments especially on the preliminary stages,Jacob can be of good use but on home and away games Mweene is the best guy because of his experience.
I hate to say this, but the answer is no. Mweene’s experience is invaluable, especially in a game such as this one.
Jacob Banda did well in Rwanda, but you also have to consider not just the minutes spent with a clean sheet, but how much pressure was he really under?
On any given day,I would go for Mweene.Even at his old age he is still 10 times better than all the local GK’s including Jacob Banda,who to me is still very unreliable.Let’s not forget that almost all the teams we faced at Chan had blunt strikers.Please do be cheated by that suspected Zesco fan who wrote that stuff.
It’s obvious you didn’t watch the the shots Jacob Banda stopped, u need to review the all games and if you insist it’s because there were no top strikers what about the experience he got will that not be useful against the so called top strikers?
Mweene is not playing. Football is not a game of memory. It is a sport. A sport needs players to be ready to take on the challenge. Without minutes played, a player is not ready. Mweene’s confidence is no doubt, out of the window. Let his regain his place in the first team and we can talk from there. He should go back to free state stars. He was a star there. Sundowns… will let the sun set on his career. Right now, he is not in form. Therefore, his experience does not count.
Mweene, either move away from that club or go to another team. you are a great goal keeper. However, you are being wasted…. at a good salary, at Sundowns
His current team as 3 international goalkeepers
It is not over for Mweene do not over rate Jacob as at now ,lets him deputies Meeene for long period so that he can learn something from a big man.
Breaking!! Zesco United’s CAF champions league match has been postponed to Sunday 14th February due to the late arrival of their opponents from South Sudan. They are expected to arrive tomorrow Saturday. Venue and time of the game remains unchanged.
Its a big NO. Let Mweene handle the pressure. The same goes for the strikers. Mbesuma,Singuluma and Kalengaol should attack. Isaac Chansa should be in the starting lineup. Bring back Davis Nkausu as he’s playing good for Freestate stars.
Nkausu is struggling at Free State Stars.
Let it be settled during the time the team will regroup. if being g active means a lot then Spider boy should be the one.
Bane i m a full-time zesco united supporter but on this issue let us not Cheat ourselves that Jacob can be better than mweene bifi ubo.not even half a percentage that we can compair jb to kapalaye.let us stop dreaming pipo.
Basa…! you dont just change players like that. this is not trial and error game! this is an important game for zambia and we need experience! let Banda be there to deputise Mweene. he can be used in a game when there is less pressure for zambia. for now we need to work on our strikers.
No!No! Jacob has not reached that level yet he doesn’t command the diffence plus he pallies a lot he realy holds on to a short,,,I thoght danny munyau would hv been nomber 1 by now,but that’s what u get with zambian coaches too much favouratism!
No!no! Jacob does not command the diffence,he rearly holds on to the ball he pallies a lot, not yet there,,,I thought by this time danny munyau would have been number 1,bt that’s what zambian coaches are always like,,its not about who can deliver but who they favour!!!
jacob is not even half of mweene
THIS IS SAME TO PETERCECH AT CHELSEA, BUT NOW HAVE YOU SEEN WHAT IS DOING AT ARSENAL,SO LET CONTINUE WITH MWENE IS BEST COACH IN ZAMBIA ,IF ITS NOT THAT BETTER USE DANNY MUNYAO
This mistake can be costly. Dont create strife between the goalies. Spides time would come so Mweene for Congo. Thus not a jokers game.
Not a debating matter, Mweene all the way IMO. Proven and reliable results. Not time to experiment here. We want results and that means going with those that have proven to be reliable and are able to deliver under difficult circumstances as what we will endure in Congo. Until Mweene starts to mess up big time(lack of concentration that results in silly goals against us)..with no fault of our suspect defense with young players, we should stick with him.
No ways…… Jacob Banda is a good goalie but am not so sure if he is (or will ever be) ready to Chipolopolo’s number one goalkeeper coz he just doesnt impress me with his displays. As for his performance at CHAN, well, most of the the saves he made were routine saves you expect a goalkeeper to make plus our defence was solid except for the right back position which was a bit porous (was even surprised that none of our defenders made it into the team of the tournament) and he really strugles to deal with crosses especially against an opposition with tall strikers. #just my opinion
To be frank guys we are in crisis when it comes to the National team best eleven. We currently have no perfect replacements to our golden team which won the Afcon 2012 with some players finished or aged. I see our current squad so vanourable in most positions starting with the Goalkeeper because Mweene is aged, we have no good right and left back players and we are not even sure who to partner our Stophila Sunzu with? We don’t have a number 8 like Isaac Chansa used to operate. Going forward we seem to be ok because our out of form Mayuka has been replaced by Mbesuma and Katongo by Kalengo. I Can only see a few players like Sunzu, Sinkala, kalaba, Mbesuma, Kalengo, Musonda and the very aged Mweene in the starting eleven for now.
kez kez the good defense displayed by zambia at CHAN shod bring some hope in the future.
LUSAKA Dynamos will give contracts to the Technical bench, and the players. Zamfoot we need news on Chali cool’s position over Lamisha and Tika since we have now dual citizenship. Never underrate someone, Jacob is knocking just give him an assignment and you will be disappointed.
I meant to write…you will never be disappointed 😉
Let’s not throw Banda, in the starting line up. its too early.we Still need Mweene
He’s Mweene’s second in command….not Toaster Nsabata!
Remember Danny Munyao
Mweene still the best no matter what banda achieved from CHAN and for mweene not being on the first eleven at his club will make him more better than ever because he will be looking to impress his club
This is a no brainier – Mweene brings more than just goalkeeping skills to the team. He is one of the players that brings leadership to the team. He may not be a regular at his club but there’s no doubting that he’s Zambia’s safest pair of hands. Moreover, if he’s to be dropped just because he’s not seeing enough game time then the same should apply to Sunzu.
Old players need to replaced with upcoming talents . While I agree that we do not have so much to count on the new blood ,it’s cardinal that we try to fuse in a few. Mweene even appears to be overweight ,with a few crucial away games Zesco goal minder should be ok ,maybe go on to become a better player than Mweene. We also have Chibwe at platinum stars who is also getting some game time . We need a confident coach like Kalu who is able to play young stars without fear of getting but initial results but fully focussed on future success.
Those young players you’re talking about have failed to impress and are a let down. The so-called young players have been a let down. Just look at the performances of the U17, U20 and U23. Very pathetic.
Mweene to continue as chipolopolo’s no. 1 goal minder.
What do you mean they failed to impress ? They did not go far in the tournament but were well prepared and came on to win the 2012 Afcon. I remember they were called boys but later matured and conquered Africa. Kali was criticized but he had a vision and most people have already forgotten where we came from
What are you talking about? What I mean is that the current under-age teams have failed to live up the expectations, U17, U20 & U23 current one. If you’re talking about the 2012 Katongo-captained winning team, their success can be traced way back. They had qualified to the U-20 WC in Canada. They had been winning COSAFA, etc and eventually won the 2012 Afcon. What has the current underage teams achieved? If you think being eliminated in the group stage is an achievement, then you got big problem.
jacob banda shud start in goal for congo game.
faz shud bring back patrice beaumelle he wil take us to the 2018 fifa word cup
we need patrice to coach zambia lwandamina & chintu kampamba shud be assistants.
Banda should be tried also, not that we should forget about Mweene but just for him to have a feel of a real thing and see how he can handle the situation but the final decision is down to the coach .
lets not gumble with goalkeepers in crucial matches.we hv tried banda at chan and we try him later at minor tonaments but mweene shud take slot at major matches.
a agree with abram that WE need patrice beaumelle to be our coach.
Mween is de best dat zambia en let him start.j.banda may ve kept a clean sheet becoz of de defense was gud en almost de all team dat was in CHAN were defense minded player’s dat why it was nt easy for zambia to score a goals.i will go for mween
Talent killer Mosimane needs to leave mweene to join another club. Mweene can go to Another big team for me he is still that good. On Banda, he is a good talent but he needs to mature into the first choice spot. Idriss Kameni, Boubakar Barry, Didier Ovono and not forgetting stars like Schemeichel, Davids, and company all played into their late thirties to early forties. Mweene gives everything for Zambia and hes had a had time. what we can do is put pressure on his club to play him and if not to let him join a club who will play him. He needs our support for now and not speculation
musonda equalised on the 20th minute and his team betis is leading depotivo 1~2 away from home.
ilike Jacob Banda alot but Kennedy ls awesome!!!
The change of goal keeper for the national team is inevitable. Better if we do it sooner rather than later. Of I were Mweene, I’d retire while everybody is calling my name. Because at his age he is bound to make one monumental error that will forever define his career with the Chipolopolo(like kalu and that missed penalty. Neither Kalusha nor Zambia wanted to accept the passage of time, accept that he was finished until that day). So it’s better for Mweene and better for us if he moves on. Retired rings nicer around the ears than fired.
Leave Mweene alone. If you’re retired, not everyone want to retire.
Are you his campaign manager ? Mweene is aging and not getting any game time ,why should he be the first choice keeper when there are alternatives ? Evwn id the youngones are not pwrforming well is no justification to continue using tired legs .For hoq long should you depend on them ? For logical sense ,there has to be a transition period and it has to be now
Ba zamfoot update the site with fresh news
To be honest am not sure
Zamfoot mulebako serious, if there’s no news in Zambia then just give us any other news as long as it’s soccer news, how do you explain all this quietness?
This is the problem of having only one quality player in a certain position. Mweene is not playing at his Club but still remains Zambias number one. Does’t this really ring bells? Mweene will be number one because there is no one to replace him. Question is, what if for some reason he is unable play in the qualifers what does Zambia do? Borrow a goalkeeper from another country or what.
If I were the coach I would warn the players and tell them that anyone WHO is not playing at his Club will not be considered for Zambia
By the way why did Mweene not ask for a loan move? He knew about his situation and to tell the truth that Uganda keeper will be first even next year
We don’t just have a team that can takes us to the World cup and this is the truth, period
I watched Musonda jr. last night the boy is bad news and there is no doubt he will end in one of the big Clubs. Very serious boy. Just wondering what is wrong with our young players, awe kwena
Justice, its all about player development. Charly Musonda has grown up in the European football system. Rather than continue this idea of sending kids to Europe, Zambia needs to encourage clubs and schools to have our own development system.
I have advocated for this for years on this site, and no one has listened. Then again Generalisimo gave me the opportunity to be involved, but personal responsibility has always taken precedence.
Mweene has done his part. It is time for Jacob to excel in his carrier.
Mmweene in South Africa is no longer the starter and its better to hang boots when the drums are beating than when you cause an embarrassment. It will the topic for three months. Mweene please rest in piece.
mweene is finished,i was very impressed by banda,he deserves to be our no 1 goalie