Sensational Zanaco coach Numba Mumamba who is known for not shying away from making substitutions that may seem radical to others, On Sunday replaced goalkeeper Toaster Nsabata with Mangani Banda in the 70th minute following a poor showing from the Mamba product during the game against Kitwe United which saw him concede three goals in 70 minutes.
World wide goalkeepers are only substituted in an event of an injury or a special case like penalties coming up as was the case at the 2014 World Cup when former Holland coach Louis Van Gaal brought in Tim Krul to replace Jasper Cillessen and went on to save two penalties from Costa Rica duo of Bryan Ruiz and Michael Umaña to book Holland a semi-final with Argentina.
With Nsabata failing to perform to the Zanaco standard it is somewhat worrying to think of who will replace Kennedy Mweene when he finally hangs up his boots . The Zanaco defence however did him no favours on the day and it may have just been a bad day at the office.
Nsabata is no stranger to low points in his career as his early part of his Chipolopolo career took a hit in 2014 when his howlers in a 4-3 friendly loss to Japan away in Florida saw his stock plummet. However, Nsabata he rebounded in 2016 to help Zanaco win their seventh FAZ Super Division title.
Nsabata later had an outstanding 2017 CAF Champions League where he conceded just three goals in eight games from the preliminaries to the group stage of the competition.
Nkana coach Beston Chambeshi heaped praise on Nsabata for showing shades of Chipolopolo first-choice Kennedy Mweene during a 2018 COSAFA Cup quarter-final post-match penalty win over Namibia. Mweene’s understudy saved one spot-kick before emulating his senior by converting a penalty to help Zambia advance 4-3 following a scoreless result at Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane, South Africa.
“You all know he has been Kennedy Mweene’s understudy and for sure even the way he took the penalty, I thought it was Kennedy Mweene, but then I realised it was Toaster Nsabata. It is good the young boy, he is coming up, he is working hard,” Chambeshi told COSAFA Media.
“We are looking at the future and we encourage the boy to maintain the same level of play so that he can continue playing at this higher level,” he added.
Allan Chibwe is another name that has been mentioned that may take up the responsibility even though recent events have not shown the best side of his behaviour which is a cardinal part of a sportsmans life.
Lawarence Mulenga had an amazing first 17 games for Power dynamos and earned himself national team call ups before he decided to go AWOL giving chance to Jackson Kakunta who grabbed the opportunity with both hands.
Toaster and Allan already have national team experience but with youngsters Charles Muntanga and Jackson Kakunta doing well so far, the future of the Chipolopolo goalkeeping department is still in good hands.
There is a Zambian goalkeeper at jomo cosmos and he’s very good..
@chindika Pompey’s.. If he z good enough to play for zambia why is he playing in the lower division just here in southafrica unless if it were lower division in Europe
Yes that guy Cosmos is a deecent goalie trust me
Have been wondering why he is not tried. The guy is good. Sly.
The jomos cosmos goalkeeper was born in South Africa.essentially making him South African and not Zambian
Jomo is a very good coach with an excellent eye to spot a talent. If he is at Jomo his future is bright even though he may not get a lot of money. How old is the said boy at Jomo
Numba’s defense was very weak the guy just wanted to shift the blame timaiziba.why can’t he release Nsabata if he is not helping him