The Zambia U20 national soccer team sealed a historic passage to the quarter finals of the 2017 FIFA U20 WOrld Cup after a thrilling 4 – 3 win over Germany. The dream team awaits the winner between France and Italy for a quarter final clash on Monday.
The ZamFoot Crew looks at how the plays rated in the heart stopping seven goal thriller.
Mangani Banda 7.0
Good goal keeping for the man between the posts. He came out when necessary and had good to almost accurate distribution. He would have dine more by arranging his defenders when linning up for the first goal Zambia conceded. Still conceded 3 good goals and had poor kicks.
Shemmy Mayembe 7.0
Scorer of the wining goal in the second half of extra time. Coordinated well and stood in for Boyd Musonda when he committed upfront. He coordinated well with the captain and did as was instructed by the coach. He showed a lot more confidence on the ball and his pass was assured.
Prosper Chiluya 6.0
An uncharacteristically bad day at the office for the left back. The skipper was out to cover for him when he conceded the free kick that led to the first goal. Made very few trade-mark runs and didn’t seem to be in the game. Won a few free kicks for the team and only seemed to come in the game after the coming on of Edward Chilufya. One would think he was told not to overlap like he has been doing in previous games.
Solomon Sakala 8.0
Captain Solo made his return from suspension. His leadership abilities matches up with his defensive skills. He gave no space to his man and was unfortunate to bring down the player from which the free kick was taken. A good day at work for the Captain.
Enock ‘Computer’ Mwepu 8.5
Computer ni computer… Partnered well with Emmanuel Banda though the duo didn’t seem to know who was to pick up balls from the top. Scored with a wonderful sublime calm finish and always looked dangerous when he was with the ball. He provided the assist for Fashion Sakala when he released him on the right as well as Emmanuel Banda when he the ball came off his foot to fall kindly for the attacking midfielder.
Musonda Siame 6.5
The winger started ahead of Edward Chilufya. He committed much to the defense and offered little support to the in his wing. Not an impressive start for the winger.
Emmanuel Banda 8.0
Scorer of the second goal. His splitting passes gave room for even distribution of the ball.Was a little bit over ambitious with long range passes in the first half but came into the game in the second half. Emmanuel was no match to the Germany defenders and came close to score in the first half but his efforts where only rewarded in the second half.
Boyd ‘Tanker’ Musonda 5.0
Boyd has always seemed to be the weak link in the team but today he pitched up though failed to reach the levels that made him Cosafa Cup player of the tournament. His power-full right foot seems to be his let down as he has never shot any long range shot on target so far in the tournament but he continues to try when he can easily just try to find his attacker. However he won a number of vital balls covered a lot of space but cans still improve in his use of the ball.
Fashion ‘Mr Fashion’ Sakala 8.0
Struggled to get in the game but seemed dangerous going forward.Going by his past performance, Fashion didn’t have a good game though managed to score after coming close on a number of occasions. Current leading goal scorer in the team. He scored a a bullet of a shot from some individual brilliance and couldn’t hold his tears after being substituted.
Patson ‘Papa’ Daka 7.5
Always seemed dangerous when he was with the ball. Drop rather a little two deep to win some balls. Patson’s experience on how to bury games was only seen after Germany had come back when he dragged on in the corner to buy time. He showed maturity to hold and release the ball at the right time for the assist to Mwepu. Was unfortunate not to have scored today but he remains the key man in Zambia’s attack.
Edward Chilufya 7. 0
Came in for Siame Musonda announcing his presence with runs on his wing. His presence was a good boost to the team. Came close to scoring during extra time. He split the Germany defence and that gave players like Fashion to be given some playing space.
Moses ‘Bumper’ Nyondo 6.5
A good day at work for another back line staff. Defended very well and sowed great composure.
SUBSTITUTES
Conlyde Luchanga 6.0
He came in for Fashion Sakala. A willing confident runner at a time when the game was stretched. He provided the assist for Shemmy Mayembe’s goal.
Boston Muchindu 6.0
Came in as a purely defensive player on a tactical basis. Helped cluster the defence and did what he was instructed to do.
COACH
Beston Chambeshi 6.5
Managed to win against one of the highly rated in the tournament but failed to bury the game in 90 minutes. It is and was his responsibility to order his troops not to commit upfront entirely after being two goals up with less than 5 minutes to play. He had two more substitutes to make but decided to go with his tried and tested troopers. Why he does not stick to his proven starting XI is anybody’s guess.
Boyd Musonda 4.5 he had a very bad game and those shots???
Agree with you, also not to put the kid under the bus, but Siame Musonda was non existent/effective in the game and should not have a 6.5, but again all this is opiniated.
Our defensive midfield role continues to be our weakest link AKA Boyd Musonda, for some reason he seems to be in a rush to get on the scorer’s chart too! Let him focus on his defensive/disruptive duties al la Kante’…
Boyd Musonda was very useless in this game. Umu guys wamungulu sana. He thinks he can score goals instead of passing the balls to scorers. Wonder why Chambeshi still keeps this guy in the first team.
Boyd Musonda… Maybe he is ordered to shoot.. just that his shots were off target.
But, he should not let his “mission to score” cloud his judgement. sometimes, a pass is better, and keeping your area covered is best
In the first half our boys gave too much respect to the Germans and were some what afraid of the big lads from German going by the reputation of German at such tournaments. Our boys need to concentrate from the first whistle and not react when opponents score. From the time this Mangani Banda goalie made that mistake that gifted the Iranians the first goal, the boy is not himself. You can tell from him facial expression that some confidence that he showed against Portugal in first game has evaporated. its high time FAZ thought about psychologists in our game. Chambeshi should bench Musonda Boyd and play Nsunzu.
Beston 8.5. with a win against a world top football team! Beston was the one of the fastest if not the fastest striker in the Nkana team! I am glad all his players are fast! Well-done coach!
am happy that germany was clearly defited by our young boys.they thought that we were going to dance for their tune,unfortunately we banged our drums and dance to our tune after winning 4-3(italy get ready we are caming for you)