The season opener the Samuel Zoom Ndhlovu Charity shield left so much thoughts on the minds of of fans who trooped to woodland stadium and those who watched the match on televisions. Here are some of the things observed:
ZANACO ARE FAVORITES TO WIN THE 2019/20 LEAGUE
Sensentional Zanaco looked to have solved their biggest problem which costed them the league title during the transitional season. The defense was so porous but they have found the right balance between the attack and defense.
New signings Tiberius Lombard and captain Ziyo Tembo started at the heart of the Zanaco defense with Lawrence Chungu and Jimmy Nakena playing left and right back respectively.
Ziyo and Lombard dealt with every danger Jackson Were and Umaru Kasumba posed on Zanaco, they lacked such mentality last season. The defense is now so comfortable and stable.
JOHN CHISHIMBA IS A REAL GEM
The Zesco United little known 17 year old John Chishimba was tasked to defend against the likes of Souleymanou Moussa And Guilly Manziba who was introduced in later during the match.
The youngster kept his nerve and was not intimidated by names, his defensive ability is excellent and that could be the reason Lwandamine opted to use the youngster rather than the experience Fackson Kapumbu who watched the whole match on the substitute bench.
Chishimba is a star in the making, he can burst going forward and track back. We’ll continue keeping an eye on him.
THIS IS THE DEFINING SEASON FOR MANGANI BANDA
Only three and half foot tall, this will be Banda’s season to establish himself, he made Zanaco fans forget about Toaster Nsabata who missed the game. His decision making was very good, despite been short he would go out of the post to punch the set pieces situation on Kondwani Mtonga’s head.
He pulled a string of good saves in the first half to keep Zega at bay. With the shortage of goalkeepers for the national team, a national team callup is on its way if he continues putting up such performance.
NUMBA WAS TACTICALLY SUPERIOR
Playing a 4-1-4-1 formation, Numba Mumamba edged out his counterpart George Lwandamina who used a 4-5-1 formation. At the base of the Zanaco midfield, Kelvin Kapumbu played as a defensive midfielder then he had Tafadzwa Rusike and Souleymanou Moussa playing ahead of him with Ernest Mbewe and Charles Zulu playing in the flanks.
While Lwandamina went with his traditional twin defensive midfielder comprised of Zimbabwe midfielder Thabani Kamusoko and Kondwani Mtonga with John Chin’gandu playing behind striker Umaru Kasumba, Quadri Kola and Jackson Were in the flanks.
The quick feet of Rusike and Souleymanou made the Zesco United defensive midfielder to lay very deep and that forced them to committing themselves and try to tackle the ball because they couldn’t copy with the pace of Ernest Mbewe, Charles Zulu and the duo creative midfielders.
Zanaco capitalized the set piece and Ziyo headed home to put the Banker ahead.
Ernest Mbewe should try right back position. Going forward he runs like a headless chicken
From the posting above, “Only three and half foot tall, this will be Banda’s season to establish himself?”
Interesting for me an Architect.
This length or is it height is less than 1.1m. Even 4.5 feet is slightly less than 1.4m, so is Mangani Banda this high? or this short?