Zesco United put up an excellent display of skill and precision to grab a famous 3 – 2 win at home against Egyptian giants Al Ahly in a thrilling encounter played at the Levy Mwanawasa stadium.
A brace from Cletous Chama and one from John Chingandu were enough to give Zesco maximum points in their first group A match while Ghanaian John Antwi scored the two goals for Ahly after some defensive lapses from Zesco.
The match promised sparks right from the start with Ahly curving the first chance while Zesco showed that they were not going to sit back as they also threatened within the first 5 minutes.
Once the game had settled, Zesco looked the more confident side stringing good passes in midfield but the Ahy defense was holding well on the edge of the box.
The first sign of the Ahly defense cracking showed in the 20th minute when a good interchange of passes on the edge box saw Chama unleash a cracking shot on goal only for the Ahly goalie Ekramy Ahmed to save well for a corner.
Zesco came back in similar fashion and some beautiful skill from impressive John Chingandu saw him shoot from outside the box and keeper failed to keep out his shot at full stretch despite getting to the ball.
Ahly immediately went on the attack and pulled one back two minutes later after some defensive lapse which saw them fail to clear the ball in the box for Antwin to shoot from within the 6 yard box.
After the break, Zesco upped their game and they just looked the better side as the Egyptians were chasing shadows and the effort paid off in the 49th minute by Chama who bundled the ball at the far post seconds after Mwape Mwelwa showed some silky skills to turn his defender on his shot to be saved by the keeper.
Chama completed his brace six minutes later when played Ayo Oluwafeni on the left and rushed in the box to complete the move with a goal.
Antwin struck agains in the 69th minute but Zesco held on to the end in a nervy last 20 minutes.
Zesco next travel to Morocco on 29th June to play Wydad Casablanca.
Zesco XI v Al Ahly
Lameck Nyangu – Mayembe Shemmy, Ayo Oluwafemi, Kondwani Mtonga, David Owino Odhiambo, Misheck Chaila, Clatous Chama, Anthony Akumu, Jackson Mwanza (Lameck Nyangu), Mwape Mwelwa (Simon Silwimba), John Chingandu (Dauti Musekwa)
Zesco v Al Ahly XI
S Ekramy Ahmed – R Abdelaziz Abia, Ali Hegazi, S Abdel Montleb, MZ Abbasi Eldawy, H Lesayed Ghaly, S Saleh, AF Abdel Momeim, H Ashour, R Ahmed, J Antwi
The reverse fixture will be a cracker as Zega will see the return of Mbombo n Were the chief bangers. Good one bane!
Well done Yamoto!!!!!!!!
I really enjoyed de game for de first time in many Years. Zesco played a wonderfull game against a very tactical an strong side. All de best for Zambia 2moro.
That was a good display of football ba zesco, but the way yiu defended those two goals you allowed, awe suwa.
wow great football by zesco united, long time since a saw such a great and beautiful football from Zesco united I can wait to watch a rematch. Zesco will go far in this competition if they continue displaying like this. clatus chota chama was my man of the match( wow what a creative player)
dats my zega.kip it up.proud of u
Well done zescoro,u are a team yaziko.
Zega Mambo! Wapya, iwe!!!
thumbs up to zesco! excellent and confident display of skills.Congrats!!!zesco has assembled a skillfully team to compete at any level in Africa and am sure they will go far in CAF league.you made zambia proud this weekend.
Cletus chama is a brilliant very unselfish player not ba kalaba ifimeko kwati ebaikata Zambia.baz please we need an expatriate coach like Rena to identify these talented .misheki chaila very determined not ba Nathan sakala very useless against guinea bisau.that’s my appeal we need an expatriate .i cant blame george chicken because he was understaffed others hes a very good coach.even you ba faz u cant save two masters at the same time.let him concentrate on his team as he brings more development to Zambian football.a lot of fans are blaming him for Zambia failing to qualify I think fans got it wrong because he was doing two jobs at the same time which was two much for him and it was a wrong decision ba faz u made.we just need a new coach.George didn’t have time to watch leagues and identify talented players because of other commitments zesco united and the nation team how do u expect him to perform like that .you expect poor selection of players .even naimwe ba faz have u ever seen a coach from other countries managing a club and again the nation team at the same time .if you have seen then mention the country .it was a wrong decision you made ba faz and I can’t blame the new faz president for failing to qualify a mistake was done a wrong time ago during kalusha bwalyas era
Our defence was poor going by the those two goals were allowed to past the line but the front line came to our aid. I hope we won’t play like that in upcoming matches. However a result of that magin is commendable especially when play against Al Ahly. All the best team.
What a game….I really enjoyed it
Great performance from Zesco United. John Ching’andu, Akumu (the Kenya defensive midfielder) were just amazing to watch, not forgetting Clatous Chama (my man of the match) whose trickery and clever play left the Egyptian team chasing shadows. Other than those two lapses in defence, all the Zesco players accounted forthemselves well. WELCOME TO AFRICAN FOOTBALL Martin Jol
well done zega my team
congratulations zega
I always say that clatous chama is a good prayer compared to those small boys chicken played in G B on an expense of chisamba Lungu. clatous can play well in the first team in chipolopolo.
wonderful display by Escort,great football.
I meant wonderful display by Zesco not escort,zesco will play a good game in Egypt with two deadly strikers
Good win for Zega. Al Ahly is tough team to beat. 3 points is all that mattered though you allowed 2 goals. Build on this as you travel away. Win all home games and steal win away from home then you stand a chance to make the semis.
Thanks for making Zambia proud after the National team embarrassed us two weeks ago.
In the National team you fail to chose the scores u take fitunguza to play in the sentive game
Good one Zesco u hv honestly shut me up i never saw u beating them now i hv lost K1000 in a bet.
I see no credit to Lwandamina here
never watched zega play this good before, Chaila was exceptional together with Chama, though he needs to put some physic in his intelligence
We’ve got talent and only need a coach who can identify the talent which is in misheck chaila,c.c.chama etc nice play ba zesco and ba chcken for such a beautiful game zesco has displayed, go zesco/zambia go.
Zesco we are are behind you since the time of ‘Red Devils of Zambia’ it was not easy to beat Arabs either home or away be it at national or club level. My appeal to my Chipolopolo fans don’t compare club selection of players with national. All in all we have failed to qualify to AFCON lets put heads together and focus WC qualifiers. Lets also give chance to local coaches even the players are to blame. Zesco badabwishe!
useless coach who failed us by using cosafa cup players at the expense of pros
dwarfs
ZESCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! Well done. All this despite missing some key players.