. LWANDAMINA

From SHAMAOMA MUSONDA At Stade de Kigali –
Zambia 0 Mali 0
ZAMBIA will play Guinea in the quarter-finals of the Rwanda 2016 Africa Nations Championships (CHAN) tournament on Sunday after topping Group D with seven points with the Chipolopolo returning to their ‘preferred’ base in Rubavu.
Having struggled on the Nyamirambo Stadium pitch in Kigali, coach George ‘Chicken’ Lwandamina and his charges will be happy to get back to Umuganda Stadium in Rubavu where they have played more freely.
Guinea started this tournament with two draws before the famous 1-0 win over Nigeria took them through to the quarters but Lwandamina insisted that his lads were ready to face any team anywhere.
Mali coach Djibril Drame said he was happy having drawn against Zambia but that the result did not matter but rather the qualification to the last eight.
It has been long since Zambia got to this level of a continental competition with Lwandamina saying the Chipolopolo will not be comfortable with a last-eight spot but would want to push to the end-point of this tournament.
As Zambia and Mali were easing their way to the last eight, Uganda were eliminated after also drawing 1-1 with Zimbabwe in Rubavu.
The result left coach Milutin’ Micho’ Sredojevic dumb-founded after making a wild accusation a day before the games that Zambia and Mali had ‘agreed’ to draw in order to eliminate the Cranes.
Uganda needed to win and hoped for Mali to lose by a big margin in order to progress to the last four but head home today without a win at this tournament at which they were highly respected by the locals, especially after winning the 2015 CECAFA Cup.
But his team’s drawing just because they scored deep into the referees’ added time, simply exposed him about his fast-talking skills.
On the pitch, Lwandamina made three changes to his starting team that beat Uganda with Solomon Sakala getting his first run out in the place of Daudi Musekwa while Spencer Sautu started in the place of Isaac Chansa, who like Musekwa was on a yellow card, while Benson Sakala filled in for injured Salulani Phiri.
Both sides played cautiously with a packed midfield and there was no action in front of goal until the 18th minute when a tame Mali shot was unleashed but Jacob Banda easily dealt with it for a corner which was wasted.
It remained a cat-and-mouse affair until the 35th minute when Mali’s Sekou Koita unleashed a thunderbolt from the edge of the box and although Banda’s initial save was uncomfortable, he recovered to avert the danger.
The second half started livelier with Zambia passing the ball around more but with Mali sitting back. The Chipolopolo opted to hold the ball more and knock it all around the pitch.
The CAF statistic will read that there was no shot at goal in the second half but who cared as the job was done in the first two matches as Micho’s side kept floundering.
Micho also alleged his conspiracy theory that the Zambia game was watered down because a good number of players from both sides were managed by one agent whom he refused to name.
The team is today expected to drive back to Rubavu for Sunday’s quarter-final.

CHAN 2016 Quarter Finals
Saturday 30 January 2016
Rwanda  v     Congo DR
Cameroon    v    Ivory Coast
Sunday 31 January 2016
Tunisia v       Mali
Zambia  v       Guinea