The Zambia National team played to a 1-1 draw with Mali in their opening game of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.
Patson Daka scored a beauty of a header to rescue a point for the Copper Bullets after Lassine Sinayoko had put The Eagles of Mali in the lead at the half-hour mark.
The ZamFoot Crew now looks at how the individual players performed in the match.
Willard Mwanza 8.5 – The Power Dynamos goalkeeper Willard Mwanza came up big with some brilliant saves, one of the best if not the best player for Chipolopolo today. He also saved El Bilal Toure’s penalty in the 42nd minute.
Mathews Banda – 7.5 ; The Nkana defender put up a good fight despite the match being his first at AFCON. He also set up Patson Daka for the only goal of the game with a delicious cross.
Lubambo Musonda – 7.5 ; A very good shift from the vice captain. He was good both defensively and going forward. He worked really hard for the team. His only undoing was not being alert on the corner kick that led to the Mali goal, he was late to react.
Benson Sakala 7.5 ; A good shift from the Czech Republic based midfielder. He made a last ditch tackle that kept the scoreline at 1-1.
Dominic Chanda 7; A solid performance from the Power Dynamos defender. He was compact and made very good decisions alongside his partner Benson Sakala.
Miguel Chaiwa 6.5; He started well but not the best of performances from the Hibernian FC midfielder.
Owen Tembo -7; A solid performance from the Power Dynamos midfielder. His only undoing was that he played it a little too safe at times and could do with a little bit of adventure.
Klings Kangwa – 6; Not the best of performances from Zambia’s most creative player. Today was not his day.
Lameck Banda-6 ; The Lecce winger was not effective on the day. He has had better days, usually troubling defenders with his pace but seemed to struggle today and when substituted looked to be talking to the doctor about a knock which could explain why he was not at his best.
Fashion Sakala – 6: The skipper was not at his best on the day and was eventually substituted for Kennedy Musonda.
Patson Daka – 7.5; He had fairly a quiet game but popped up when it mattered most and scored a brilliant headed goal to rescue a point for Zambia. He has now scored 22 goals for Zambia. He has two goals in four AFCON matches.
David Simukonda – 6; He brought in some much needed energy in the match.
Joseph Banda -6; Brought in energy some pace on the wing. .
Kennedy Musonda – N/A
