Zambia lived up to the expectations of the partisan home crowd with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Guinea in the opening match of the Total U-20 African Cup of Nations 2017 being held in that country for the first time.
Patson Daka scored the only goal of the game which also saw 2 disallowed goals for the young Chipolopolo at the Heroes National Stadium in Lusaka.
Narby Bangoura had a chance to put Guinea ahead in the 29th minute but his shot went over the bar with only Mangani Banda to beat.
Edward Chilufya put the ball in the back of the net on two occasions for Zambia but both were controversially ruled for offside.
A heavy downpour came down on the heroes pitch but the playing surface held well and so did the host sending the home crowd back home smiling.
Republican President Edgar Lungu and CAF President Issa Hayatou were part of the crown in attendance and prior to kickoff, officially opened the tournament.
Meanwhile, in the other Group A match, Egypt and Mali could not break each other down, giving the initiative to Zambia who are now leading the standings on 3 points.
Group A Standings.
The host nation sit on top of the table after the first set of matches of the Total #U20AFCON2017 pic.twitter.com/IB4tnKCFzp— Soka25east.com (@soka25east) February 26, 2017
The Malians have a date against Zambia on Wednesday 1 March 2017, at 18:00 with Heroes Stadium as the center stage, and the Egyptians tackle Guinea in the other fixture to be played at 15:00.
