Zanaco smell quarter finals

Sun, 02 Jul 2017 11:14:05 +0000

By Michael Miyoba and Nzovwa Sakala

Zambia’s representatives in the CAF Champions league tournament Zanaco, increased their chances of progressing to the quarter finals of the most prestigious African club tournament despite recording a barren draw against Egyptian giants Al Ahly in the group D fixture played yesterday at the National Heroes Stadium in Lusaka.

Despite having played under pressure, the Zambian champions contained the Egyptian champions and prevented them from finding the back of the net.

Al Ahly’s first scoring opportunity came as early as the fifth minute with Zakaria Abbas sending his shot over the bar.

Five minutes later Al Ahly attacked again with Abd Algaber’s sublime shot on target brilliantly but saved by goalkeeper Toastar Nsabata.

The Egyptian giants continued with their attacking style of play and could have stunned Numba Mumamba’s boys in the 33rd minute of the game.

Nsabata was however well alert to deny Abdala Said from finding the back of the net.

Zanaco’s only scoring opportunity in the first half came a minute before halftime when Felix Nyaende’s sublime shot on target was saved by Al Ahly goalkeeper, Sherif Akromy.

Al AHLY’S dominance over the Zambian Champions continued in the second half and could have gone ahead but Nsabata produced two fine saves to deny the 8 times CAF Champions leaguers winners from scoring. Zanaco head coach Mumamba described the group D game against Al Ahly as a tough one. He noted that the Zambian champions will not relax despite having maintained top position in group D with 11 points. “The game was a tough game, we played against a tough side but I am glad with the way the boys accounted themselves in today’s game,” Mumamba said.

Zanaco faces Wydad in their next fixture and Mumamba has warned that his team will put up a spirited fight when they face the Cameroonians in their next fixture to qualify.

“We will not relax. We have a team that can collect maximum points against Wydad therefore they should not underrate us because we are a strong team as well,” Mumamba said. Meanwhile Al Ahly head coach Hossam El-Badry said he was disappointed after his team could not get maximum points. El-Badry said that failure by the Egyptian giants to collect maximum points puts Al Ahly in a tough position to qualify for the quarterfinals. He said that his team has to win its next game if it was to qualify to the quarter finals. Zanaco commands group D with 11 points and will wait for their clash against Wydad Casablanca to confirm their qualification to the quarter finals of Africa’s most prestigious club tournament.