Zesco United’s 2018 CAF Champions League quarterfinal dreams were dashed on Tuesday at home in Ndola following a 1-1 draw with Etoile du Sahel of Tunisia at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium.
The result saw Zesco finish third in Group D on 6 points, three points behind Primeiro Agosto of Angola who beat them to second place and booked the second quarterfinal slot behind pool toppers Etoile who had already qualified with two games to spare after finishing on an unassailable 12 points.
Agosto progressed at the expense of Zesco following a 2-1 home win over Mbabane Swallows of eSwatini in Luanda on the same afternoon.
Meanwhile, Zesco took the lead in the 7th minute through Lazarus Kambole to see him close his African campaign this season on seven goals.
Zesco went on to dominate the first half whose major highlight saw goalkeeper Makram Bdiri leave the pitch with a suspected concussion following an on-the-line collision with Zesco striker Winston Kalengo and was replaced by Achraf Krir.
But affairs changed in the second half mostly thanks to the dreaded free kicks of Mohamed Arbi who questioned Zesco’s backline in the 59th and 68th minutes.
However, his third attempt in the 70th minute was met by Etoile captain and midfielder Rami Bedoui on the far post who extinguished Zesco’s hopes of a first Group D home win and second in the tournament in Ndola since February 21 when they beat JKU of Zanzibar 7-0 at Levy in the preliminary stage.
It’s all thanks to the official who went to Tanzania to bring back prodigal son George Lwandamina
NO NO look at it in this way most ZESCO players have reached their pick nothing to do with the coach ,the team will weaken further ,introduce young players
To qualify a team needs to win all home games and at least draw away games. We just don’t get. Banking on who or who winning or losing is a poor strategy. Probably Chipolopolo is going no where unless we take drastic measures and those don’t include bringing the Kalabas
Yes, I agree with One Zambia. Football career has a very short lifespan. The moment a player reaches 30 years, start positioning a serious replacement. I am not sure how old people like Kalaba, Mweene, etc are now, but I believe they are in the danger zone of their football career and should not be depended on for glory.
Comment: Zesco now needs needs to plan for next year players like Kondwani Mtonga,Jackson Mwanza,Jacob Banda,Winston’s Kalengo, Misheck Chaila should be retired forth with. Find new strikers.
Comment: Today Zambian football clubs have so many so called professional footballers from all over Africa but am made to wonder which leagues they come from. They have made no impact at all except for a few at Zesco. What criteria or scouts do Zambian clubs use to assess these players? Are we after quantity instead of quality? Look at Buildcon fc what have they gained from the legion of foreign players they had? They have now now fallen back to Zambian players again.What a loss.