ZANACO ON THE 2017 SEASON
Victories for Green Buffaloes and ZANACO on Sunday afternoon in week 37 coupled by a draw of league leaders Zesco United away to Green Eagles confirmed that four teams will be fighting for the title on the last day something we are not used seeing in the Zambia super league.
Relegation is confirmed on three places with the last slot having a dimension of who may end up champions on Saturday as Mufulira Wanderers visits Zesco United and the other three contenders will have eyes on that one.
With the four teams confirmed representing the nation in CAF games, the final day of the season will just determine who will be in the Champions League and who will end up in the Confederation Cup.
But today we look into the season of the Defending Champions and where they may have made an opportunity for other teams to take the title away from them.
AWAY FROM HOME
Should ZANACO fail to win the league, they will look back to the away games as the reason having lost four games already to Nkana, Green Eagles, Green Buffaloes and Nkwazi. On contrast to the 2016 season were they won the league, ZANACO had only lost three games the entire season which defined ZANACO as not having lost a game at home.
What makes their away form very bad this season is the high number of draws they have picked . They have recorded a total of 7 draws which translates dropping 14 points from the draws and a total of 26 points if you add the four losses they have suffered away from home.
Perhaps the most shocking defeat was the first loss away to Green Eagles but that was the time the team was realizing life without most if their starters who had left the team after winning the title at the end of 2016 season.
Away results
Green Eagles 2 – 1 Zanaco
Konkola Blades 0 – 2 Zanaco
Nchanga Rangers 0 – 2 Zanaco
ZESCO United 0 – 0 Zanaco
NAPSA Stars 0 – 0 Zanaco
Forest Rangers 0 – 1 Zanaco
Red Arrows 0 – 0 Zanaco
City of Lusaka 1 – 3 Zanaco
Mufulira Wanderers 1 – 1 Zanaco
Nakambala Leopards 1 – 1 Zanaco
Real Nakonde 0 – 1 Zanaco
Lusaka Dynamos 0 – 0 Zanaco
Nkana 4 – 0 Zanaco
Nkwazi 1 – 0 Zanaco
Green Buffaloes 2 – 0 Zanaco
Lumwana Radiants 0 – 2 Zanaco
Kabwe Warriors 2 – 2 Zanaco
Power Dynamos 0 – 1 Zanaco
Buildcon 1 – 2 Zanaco
HOME
The entire 2016 season, ZANACO had a clean slate at home and ended the season without a loss and they were close to achieving that this season before Lusaka Dynamos came visiting and lost that encounter 1-0.
While they have a good season at home, they will also count the number of draws accumulated and failure to finish games in a high as the reason of failure if they don’t manage to get this one. They have had six draws at home translating to dropping 12 points and with the addition of the Lusaka Dynamos loss the total number of points dropped at home comes to 15.
Home Results
Zanaco 1 – 1 Red Arrows
Zanaco 6 – 0 Mufulira Wanderers
Zanaco 4 – 1 Nakambala Leopards
Zanaco 0 – 0 Nkana
Zanaco 2 – 1 Green Buffaloes
Zanaco 2 – 0 Kabwe Warriors
Zanaco 0 – 0 Buildcon
Zanaco 1 – 1 Green Eagles
Zanaco 0 – 0 Lumwana Radiants
Zanaco 3 – 2 Konkola Blades
Zanaco 2 – 1 Nchanga Rangers
Zanaco 2 – 1 Power Dynamos
Zanaco 3 – 2 ZESCO United
Zanaco 1 – 1 NAPSA Stars
Zanaco 4 – 1 City of Lusaka
Zanaco 2 – 0 Real Nakonde
Zanaco 0 – 1 Lusaka Dynamos
Zanaco 3 – 0 Nkwazi
Last Game
Zanaco Vs Forest Rangers
This will be an interesting fixture and the last 19 games shows 9 victories for ZANACO and 3 for Forest Rangers. We have 7 draws on the list.
The three wins that Forest Rangers count, two have come at Sunset while one was in Ndola. The two wins of Forest Rangers at Sunset dates back to 2009 and 2006 respectively
ZANACO knows what to do this time around, beat Forest Rangers and wait for the result in Ndola to confirm if they will be champions. If Zesco United win their game against Mufulira Wanderers, then ZANACO will have handed over the title to Zesco United.
They could as well win the league title with a draw if Zesco lose and GBFC draw their encounter regardless with what Nkana does the goal difference favors ZANACO.
Key Player
I have watched a number of games and I will go for Toaster Nsabata. He has made crucial saves for the team this season otherwise the resultan could have been worse. He is the player of the season for me at ZANACO.
Augustine Mulenga will also stand in his way for his perfect season but I keep ending up with Toaster.
All the best ZANACO
They are simply SENSATIONAL
