•CHIPOLOPOLO striker Winston Kalengo (10)powers past Congo Brazzaville defenders Lepicier Mael and Babele Sagesse during yesterday’s Gabon 2017 Africa Cup of Nations Group E qualifier. Picture by GWEN CHIPASULA
By NDINAWE SIMPELWE At Levy Mwanawasa Stadium –
Zambia 1 Congo 1
COACH George Lwandamina was left a sad man after the Chipolopolo squandered the chance to go top of Group E of the Gabon 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier following a home draw against Congo Brazzaville but picked up a lot of positives from the match.
And Congo Brazzaville coach Pierre Lenchantre said his side will have to be cautious in the return leg because Zambia were a tough opponent capable of getting a win in Brazzaville.
Zambia gave away a 1-0 lead to draw with Congo Brazzaville and remain second in the group on five points same with their opponents but have an inferior goal aggregate while Guinea-Bissau beat bottom placed Kenya to move to four points as the group widened.
Striker Winston Kalengo, who was ‘offered a lift’ by the Congo Brazzaville national team to come to Zambia, opened the scores in the 57th minute but the visitors benefited from poor defending in the box to snatch a late equaliser.
Lwandamina said the draw was not a good result but was happy with the positivity the team showed in the game.
He said the way the team played with very little enough time to train together was something to be happy about.
“We cannot be happy with a draw, everyone wanted a win but in football there are three results and unfortunately we drew tonight (last night). We are still in a good position. We are on same points (with Congo). Our objective is to qualify to the Africa Cup,” said Lwandamina in a post-match conference.
Congo Brazzaville coach Lenchantre said he was happy with the result but remained cautious ahead of the return leg on Sunday.
He said the match was tough and Zambia was capable of getting a win away, adding that his team was forced to defend because of the pressure Chipolopolo piled on them.
“It was a very tough game, we were made to defend a lot. When they scored we were obliged to attack and it paid off. The group is still much in the balance but Zambia and Congo are the two best teams,” said Lechantre
Meanwhile, the match started on a slow note as both teams tried to settle but it was Zambia that was dictating play with Mbesuma and Kalaba doing most of the running from the midfield.
As the first half progressed and both teams settled, Zambia started threatening the Congolose goal but did very little to threaten the goalkeeper Mafoumbi Christoffer.
The home side continued to dominate and started finding openings in the visitors’ defence, Kalengo was put through by a clever Collins Mbesuma chip but the striker’s volley went over the bar then Adrian Chama saw his effort cleared off the line after Rainford Kalaba’s corner was headed in his direction by Mbesuma.
The best chance of the half fell to Nathan Sinkala when Kalengo nicely laid the ball for him on the edge of the box but his low shot bounced off the post then five minutes before the break Mbesuma unleashed a thunderbolt which was parried by Christoffer while the follow up was squandered by Lubambo Musonda to share the spoils at half time.
After resumption Congo decided to sit back and employed a defensive approach but it did not work as Ledicifer Mael failed to control a pass which was collected by Kalengo and the striker bulldozed his way through the defence before unleashing a power left shot to put the home side ahead.
The goal seemed to have ignited some life in the Congolese as they sent numbers in front in search of an equaliser but they were caught on a counter attack in the 71st minute which saw Clatous Chama’s low shot parried by Christoffer and the follow up by Mbesuma resulted in a foul on the goalkeeper.
Three minutes later Congo won a free kick a few meters from the box and Bifouma Thievy’s cross was not dealt with properly which allowed Massengo Jordan to pounce and break Zambian hearts.
