Zambia are through to the second qualifying stage of the inaugural Africa Nations Championship after defeating Swaziland 3-0 at Woodlands stadium in Lusaka this afternoon.
The win sees Zambia sail through 4-1 on aggregate after drawing 1-1 in the first leg played in Manzini a fortnight ago.
Peter Kaumba’s teams victory sees them book a first round meeting with Botswana away during the weekend of May 3.
Zambia struggled to find the net in the opening half despite outplaying their opponents throughout the 90 minutes.
The hosts 1-0 lead into the break was testament of Zambia’s poor finishing in-front of goal where they missed numerous gilt-edged chances.
Roger Kola put Zambia ahead in the 19th minute when he bungled in the ball just a minute after hitting the upright in his second of three attempts within the opening 20 minutes.
Zambia’s goal came just a minute as Swaziland almost stole an embarrassing opener against the run of play through Concia Mazibuko but he fluffed the ball in a one-on-one with Mike Poto.
Kaumba’s team continued to blow hot and cold in attack with Kola missing a sitter in the 51st minute before he was substituted four minutes later by unimpressive Signs Chibambo.
Chibambo failed to inspire and was lucky to be on the pitch until the final whistle as man of the match Kennedy Mudenda limped off in the 84th minute to be replaced by Reuben Tembo.
It was through Power Dynamos winger Mudenda that Zambia got its vital last two goals in the second half to make sure they reached the first round for a rendezvous with Botswana next month.
Mudenda’s speculative long-range shot in the 71st minute from the edge of the left wing was parried by Njapaliso Simmelane but Emmanuel Mayuka was quickest to react to slot in from close range to score Zambia’s second.
The Power player turned from provider to scorer when he slalomed pasted Swaziland’s towering defenders and Simmelane to walk the ball into the net in the 81st minute before he limped off with an injury.
It was a case of De ja Vu for Swaziland at Woodlands where they also lost by the same margin three years ago in the COSAFA Castle Cup mini-tournament to Zambia.
Let us hope we shall prepare our strikers better next time. Unfortunately it is a major problem in the whole country. We squander scoring oportunities all the time. Kalu please show the boys how to do it.
Well done boys, keep it up!
GK MONZE
There was a time when the likes of Swaziland, lesotho and Botswana did not even count as proper opposition to Zambia. Now we celebrate when we beat them. How pathetic!
good result and congrats. However, the TITLE of the story made me wonder whether someone had died, but he helped us before the death.
Anyhow, gr8 news!
Good result, boys. Now see to it that you thump Botswana.
Well done to the young men. Keep getting better, as #4 says, there are bigger fish to fry!
Good job lads. Keep it up!
We need to strengthen the team as the competition progresses
But who scored the second goal? Mayuka or Mudenda. Zambianfootball.com report it was Mudenda. congrats any way football has changed in the world. No longer small teams. Ask the super chickens (Nigeria).
Is this Mudenda the son of the former UNIP member of the once almighty powerful MCC, Elija Mudenda?
Since I believe in miracles, I was curious trying to find which “ghost” of a Mudenda rose from the dead to come and score for Zambia! Though the heading tried to make sense later after a lot of head spinning, it really brought out a lot of questions, LT!
“Or did Zambia have a striker by the name of Late Mudenda?”
May be the editor did not have the chance to do E10.
it is indeed good news and a good start.Hope something will come up for our team in 2010 SA World Cup.Big up.Just the fact that some the late did play in our game brings doulbts.Otherwise all gud………..
The headline was not catchy and was very confusing, it really sounded like someone had died.
Well done boys
poor news headline. How can late Mudenda be alive from his grave to score? let the dead remain in the grave and let the live Mudenda do the scoring.good for the boys. but let the journalist learn to write proper headlines.
Exactly 17:you are right !journalists am sure you do English in your course!!report nicely and accurately!
Collins Mbesuma should watch out. Much as he displaced Harry Milanzi, he should expect to be displaced by Roger Kola/Emmanuel Mayuka/Fwayo Tembo. The boys are up to scratch. The new coach should also consider Nhimunya Mweetwa.Zambia has enough ammunition, its only that PP was short sighted. Kalu was inclusive, he tried all the boys in and outside the country.
Sometimes when we write we forget our audience…but nevertheless I struggled to connect the main heading with the opening of the article. Like Comments from 12 and 13, I was a little confused. I was under the impression that this late Mudenda was an inspiration to this team and this helped a lot for them to make it to the next round. Low and behold, as I read through towards the end of the article, did I eventually notice that it was actually his being put onto the pitch at the last minute or late minute that helped the team move forward.
Ba Zambia iye, ba Zambia chipolopolo.
let Renard assemble a team of quality players and not names.He must also look at players like Elijah Tana for the defence whicg brings him sleepless nights .
Zambians front lines?, lets us not put tired legs to play for 90 minutes .we have seen others lets also give chances to the likes of Fwayo Tembo up front there ..(football is gaols ) watch out for him Etoile Du SAhel in Tunisia .Good lucky ZAMBIA .
Congrats chipolopolo,but have you forgten the like of ian bakala,andrew sinkala and moses sichone,mix them with new players old sometimes is gold.
good show guz,we are behind you,you are are future team,the sky is the limit just work hard on the strikeforce,from lusaka zambia