Zambia U20 coach Chisi Mbewe has described yesterday’s opening draw result at the 2023 U20 AFCON in Egypt as satisfactory.
Young Chipolopolo kicked off their U20 AFCON Group C campaign with a 1-1 draw against Benin in Alexandria.
But Zambia had to crawl back from one down early in the second half to earn the point in a tight contest that Benin edged Young Chipolopolo in attack.
“The first game of the tournament is usually difficult. I would say in today’s game, we didn’t do much according to the way we had planned,” Chisi said.
“We gave our opponents a lot of room in the first half that they used to create a lot of chances but fortunately we did not concede in the first half.
“But again, when we went into the break, we talked to the boys to have that confidence but unfortunately we allowed an easy goal but thank god we came back and equalized.”
The unmarked Rodolfo Aloko put Benin ahead in the 57th minute.
But Rickson Ng’ambi levelled matters on the hour mark.
“Otherwise we did not do much going forward and we need to improve in a lot of areas,” Chisi said.
“We did not create a lot of chances but again the first game is always difficult but I am happy with the way the boys performed.”
Zambia is third in Group C with 1 point tied with second-placed Benin.
Gambia top on 3 points after beating Tunisia 1-0 on the same date.
Zambia and Gambia meet in their penultimate Group C match on February 24.
The U20 AFCON tournament will decide Africa’s four representatives at the 2023 FIFA U20 World Cup in Indonesia from May 20 to June 11.
