The Zambia National team of local based players has qualified to the Kenya 2018 Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) after beating South Africa 4-2 on aggregate.
The game entailing the Southern African rivals was tied at 2-2 after 2 legs of play, hence decided on away goal rule. Zambia came out on top, after scoring 2 goals in the second half.
At Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola, in the 2nd leg played on Saturday, the visitors, Bafana Bafana started like a house on fire.
Within the five minutes of the first half, Bafana Bafana were already pressing and it was Bonglinkosi Ntuli whose on a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper, Toster Nsabata but he failed to beat him.
Zambia had their reply through Augustine Mulenga who smashed the crossbar with a dipping effort before he was withdrawn for sustaining a nock.
Both sides finished the first half on a impressive note despite being wasteful in front of the goal.
With encounter seemingly heading for a barren stalemate in the second half, a through ball from substitute John Chinga’ndu to Justine Shonga, who made no mistake to slot the ball behind the back of the net.
Moments later, Shonga doubled Zambia’a lead and completed his brace to ensure qualification’s berth for Chipolopolo.
Zambia’a coach Wedson Nyirenda lauded the players for taking their chances in his post match reaction.
“We come so strong in the first half. We wanted to early but it didn’t work out for us. I compliment the players for taking the chances,” said Nyirenda.
Meanwhile, Bafana Bafana assistance coach, Thabo Senong, who was in charge of business, bemoaned the missed opportunities.
“We missed a lot of chances. If you can’t take your chance, how can you win matches. But it’s a good learning experience for our young players,” said Thabo Senong.
