Zanaco storm CAF group stage

Sun, 19 Mar 2017 13:21:18 +0000

By BENNIE MUNDANDO AND MICHAEL MIYOBA

ZANACO yesterday galloped to the group stage of the CAF champions’ league after forcing a barren draw against Young Africans of Tanzania in the first round second leg match played at the National Heroes stadium.

Young Africans started the better of the two as their intention to kill off the game was seen from the first whistle as they pressed for goals but failed to utilize clear-cut chances.

Their best chance however came in the 18th minute when Aubrey Chirwa picked up the ball in the middle of the pitch, beat his two markers, and then released Geoffrey Mwashiuya who burst clear but Taonga Bwembya’s last-hitch sliding tackle swept then ball from his feet for a corner with only Toaster Nsabata to beat.

Zanaco replied almost immediately with an attack on the other end with U-20 AFCON winning striker Boyd Musonda turning his marker inside out at the edge of the box but was ruthlessly brought down by Kevin Yondani for a free-kick but Taonga Bwembya’s try fizzled inches away from the goalmouth.

The two teams laboured fruitlessly to produce a performance reminiscent of continental contenders though the visitors seemed to have stepped up their performance after the half-hour mark with Mwashiuya giving George Chilufya a torrid time on the left wing as Chirwa engineered most of the attacks.

Yondani was then booked for a crude tackle on Enerst Mbewe with 35 minutes played and Zimiliseni Moyo came close to breaking the deadlock with an in-swinger from the resultant free-kick but Young African goalkeeper Delgratias Munishi tipped the ball over the bar.

Attram Nkwame proved to be the culprit of the day as he wasted two goal-scoring chances within a space of two minutes after the restart which he missed at close range while unmarked.

Coach Mumamba Numba rang the changes by bringing in Richard Kasonde for Justin Zulu while Kennedy Musonda replaced the ineffective Saith Sakala but the changes never made an immediate impact. Nkwame continued making schoolboy mistakes as he again failed to score after being fed by Musonda inside the box as he rocketed the ball over the bar with 68 minutes played, forcing the game to end on a draw thereby giving Zanaco the edge on away goal rule having drawn 1-all in Tanzania last week.  And despite Zanaco having displayed a poor standard of play, assistant coach Dabid Chilufya said he was proud of his teams’ achievement after they managed to qualify to the group stages of the CAF Champions league.“We have done very well considering what happened during the transfer window. Most of our players left the club and we are doing everything to make Zanaco a great team and going in to the group stages gives us an advantage to work on our striking force which has been poor in converting clear chances,” Chilufya said. And young Africans coach George Lwandamina, who is former Zesco United head coach, congratulated Zanaco for progressing to the group stages.

“It was a tough game and both teams missed a couple of chances. It is unfortunate that ZANACO had an away goal which gave them an advantage over us,” Lwandamina said. Young Africans have been relegated to the CAF Confederation Cup where Lwandamina may meet his former club Zesco United.