Zambia beats Cranes in World Cup build-up

Nov 08, 2016

The biggest undoing for the Cranes was the long ball that the taller Zambian defenders easily dealt with.

Despite losing 1-0 against Zambia in a buildup match on Tuesday at Namboole Cranes coach Micho Sredojevic expects his charges to step up against Congo Brazaville in a world cup qualifier at Namboole on Saturday.

The Cranes fell to a Zambia Chipolopolo Lungu Chisamba's 25 minute strike that deflected off Godfrey Walusimbi in the friendly game watched by a small crowd. Zambia's goalkeeper Jacob Banda starred for his team pulling off several saves as the Cranes struggled to break their bigger opponents.

In the first half, Banda pulled off two great saves; first tipping over a Joseph Ochaya header off a Nicholas Wadada cross before he stopped a goal bound deflection of defender Sunzu Stophila after another cross fron Godfrey Walusimbi.

 
The biggest undoing for the Cranes was the long ball that the taller Zambian defenders easily dealt with.

The Cranes were livelier after the introduction of Muzamir Mutyaba, Mohamed Shaban, Geoffrey Sserunkuma and Farouk Miya for Tony Mawejje, Geoffrey Massa and Luwagga Kizito in the second half but they continued to squander chances.

"I'm very happy with the effort of the players but disappointed with the result but I should also congratulate our opponents for doing what they did to win the match, it showed we have to polish our striking in the few remaining days,"

"It is not good to lose a friendly ahead of a competitive match but I'm happy with what we are doing. We have to keep cool and ensure we build on our result we got against Ghana, as it will only count if we win on Saturday. But I believe in the team, the management and fans and we hope for the best on Saturday," Micho stated.

Despite the team wasting a couple of scoring opportunities, Cranes captain Geoffrey Massa too expects the team to use a different approach against Congo.

"It was a good game and tough but it gave us a good test ahead of our match on Saturday. We were unlucky not to score from about five chances we created. They scored from their only chance, but we are mostly focused for Saturday; though we have to improve on a few aspects before the match; we will do all it takes to win," Massa vowed.

"We choose Uganda because we know they are a tough team just like Cameroon we are going to face; they are gave us a good game they dominated the game but we also took the initiative and got a goal which we defended otherwise Uganda displayed a good game and I think they can overcome Congo," Zambia coach Weson Nyirenda said.

PHOTOS BY MPALANYI SSENTONGO

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});