Story: George Ernest Asare, Kumasi
Zambia bowed out of the Ghana 2008 tournament last Wednesday with pride after exposing the Pharaohs defence at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi and collecting a point in their last group match.
After defeating the whipping boys in group C, The Sudan, 3-0 in their opening match and succumbing 1-5 to the might of the Indomitable Lions of Cameroun in the second match, the Zambians stormed the Baba Yara Stadium last Wednesday more refreshed than ever and put up a splendid performance against the P haraohs of Egypt to win the hearts of Kumasi soccer fans who rooted for them throughout. In the end, the two teams shared the points at stake with a 1-1 draw forcing Zambia to pack out with four points.
The Chipolopolo displayed abundant skills, fighting spirit and stamina throughout the game to prove that the Pharaohs need more than determination to successfully defend the trophy.
In midfield where Felix Katongo, Clive Hachilenga and skipper Christopher Katongo operated, the Chipolopolos were a delight to watch as they won almost all the 50-50 balls, carried the game to their opponents and punctured holes in their defence to lay intelligent passes for Jacob Mulenga and Lan Bakala to score, but the two attackers looked jittery and squandered all the chances that came their way.
Like the Sudanese who failed to utilise all the chances created after exposing the Pharaohs defence in their second group match, the Zambians also exposed the Egyptian defence to prove that any team with potent attackers can destroy the Pharaohs.
It was, therefore, not surprising when Coach Patrick Phiri in a post-match press conference, expressed disappointment at his attackers for their failure to score as many goals as possible from the numerous chances created.
“In our game against the Lions of Cameroun, we won the game for them because our defence was not the best. They gave the Lions the leeway to score cheap goals, but against the Pharaohs, we proved equal to the task and did not only expose their defence as being ordinary, but also created numerous chances which should have been converted to win us the game to enable us to qualify to the next stage of the competition. However, the attackers failed miserably to utilise the chances, and now we are going home with only four points”, he bemoaned.
Skipper Christopher Katongo, who won the MTN man of the match award, also expressed similar sentiments over Zambia’s inability to carry the day, stressing that they played as individuals instead of a team and assured that “we are going home to work on all our mistakes and make sure that we qualify for the next tournament, especially the World Cup in South Africa to prove to the world that Zambia has come of age in terms of quality display of artistic soccer”.
In a lame defence for their poor performance against the Chipolopolos, an official of Egypt told the media that their intention was to avoid injuries in their last game and also ensure that they topped the group.
The man who represented coach Hassan Shehata at the post-match press conference pointed out that with Egypt topping their group as planned with all their players in good physical condition, Egypt was poised to defend the trophy won on home soil two years ago and, therefore, warned all opposing teams to prepare adequately before meeting his team.
He could, however, not explain why the Pharaohs’ performance was also not the best against The Sudan. In that match, Egypt could have been down by not less than three goals in the first 20 minutes, and a different story would have been told with regard to the team which was supposed to top Group C.
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