George Lwandamina’s Chipolopolo this afternoon came from a goal down to beat Angola’s Palancas Negras 2-1 at UJ stadium in Johanesburg South Africa.

Cletus Chama and Mwila Phiri scored either side of a Duarte Nicolau goal to lead Zambia to a 2-1 win over Angola’s Palancas Negras as both sides warmed up for CHAN finals which get underway in Kigali on January 16.

George Lwandamina fielded two different teams in each half as he assessed the preparedness of his 23-man assemblage.

With the solid performance from both sides,Lwandamina will be left with the luxurious headache of who to start when Zambia opens her campaign against Zimbabwe on 19 January.

Skipper Chris Katongo with good runs by Isaac Chansa, Mwila Phiri, Stephen Kabamba while the rest of the squad members strongly staked their cases for starting berths. Backlines anchored around Buchizya
Mfune in the first half team and Donashano Malama in the second were as solid and reassuring as were goalkeepers Jacob Banda and Racha Kola.

“The score line is not what is important in this encounter. It was about seeing how much progress we are making and looking ahead to the final tournament. Am happy with the performance and commitment. We can only continue to get better and look ahead to a good tournament. ” said Lwandamina after the match.

Team Captain Chris Katongo had this to say after the match:
“Naturally, we are happy to win. But like the Coach (Lwandamina) said, it’s not the score line which was important today. Today, we wanted to see how well we have prepared.
We know that at Final tournaments there are no easy games and every group is tough. So it was important for us to show good progress today. Am sure with the work we have done and will put in over the coming days, we will be ready to do our best and well in Rwanda. ”