By SANDRA MWILA At Nkoloma Stadium –
Zambia 0 South Africa 0
ZAMBIA was yesterday left to rue a myriad of missed chances following a barren draw against South Africa in the Papua New Guinea 2016 FIFA Women Under-20 World Cup second round first leg qualifier in Lusaka.
As coach Oswald Mutapa Junior lamented on his side’s failure to score, Basetsana coach Elisabeth Migchelsen left Nkoloma Stadium a satisfied women, saying “it was mission accomplished.”
Mutapa described the game as tough but that South Africa was tactically better than his side.
“The game was tough. South Africa was tactically better than us but my players had the physique,” Mutapa said.
With the return leg set for a fortnight, Zambia will need a win or a scoring draw to advance to the final round of qualifiers which could be likely against Nigeria on the weekend of October 23 to 25 with the return leg set for November 6-8.
Migchelsen commended her side for putting up a good fight to earn an away draw.
“We have accomplished our mission as we came here for a draw. We fought hard, we played as a team and we got what we wanted, a draw,” Migchelsen said.
The first half saw Zambia dominate possession, displaying some good football but was wasteful at goal through Barbra Banda and Grace Chanda as South Africa played a more cautious game.
Zambia was unfortunate in the 16th minute when Chanda’s goal was disallowed because of an infringement in the build-up to the goal.