BRILLIANT BUT COMPLACENT LEONE STARS CONCEDE LATE GOAL TO LOSE THRILLER 3-2 TO ZAMBIA
By KABS KANU
A brilliantly-playing but still complacent Leone Stars failed to hold on and conceded a late goal to Zambia at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola today to drop more points in the heated race to qualify for the next Africa Nations Cup in Morocco.
With only five minutes left for the match, Leone Stars should have resorted to robust defensive play to preserve what was shaping up to be a 2-2 draw but they switched off, gave away a dangerous free kick near goal from which the Zambians netted a heart-breaking winner .
Though the Chipolopolo of Zambia enjoyed 60.1% ball possession as against 39.9 % from Sierra Leone, the Leone Stars responded strongly twice when the Zambians stormed into the lead , which indicated that they were not pushovers in Zambia . It was just what the Zambians feared before the match that Leone Stars would scupper their dreams in this match.
Zambia players however gave their nation early hopes of victory in the 28th minute when the Leone Stars failed to spot Kennedy Musonda deep in their goalmouth and he was able to head home a lovely cross from Lubambo Musonda to give his country the lead.
The jubilation over the goal was shortlived as Leone Stars reacted excellently and equalised in the 33rd minutes through Augustus Kargbo, who finished off a splendid man-to -man combination to beat the Zambian goalkeeper .
Leone Stars then stoutly held the rampant Zambians at bay for a 1-1 deadlock at halftime.
The pitched battle for supremacy continued when the match resumed for the second half and though the Zambians held the edge in ball possession, Leone Stars defended doggedly and were dangerous on the break, giving the Zambians many anxious moments in their goalmouth.
Zambia brought their nation back on its feet with joy in the 70th minute as Kelvin Kampamba received a nice pass and rolled the ball home after a magnificent move that split the Sierra Leone defence .apart.
But four minutes later, the impressive Leone Stars, who were savagely criticized by their citizens for failing to score against lowly Chad in their 0-0 draw last Friday , frustrated the Zambians once again when Hindolo Mustapha levelled 2-2 with another excellent finish from a devastating attack on the Zambian goal.
At this juncture , Zambian fans were disappointed and with time ticking away relentlessly , a 2-2 home draw stared them in the face , but with five minutes left for play, Leone Stars made a mistake to yield a free kick around their goalmouth and the defence did not cover well, allowing Kings Kangwa to stab it past the displaced goalkeeper.
It is another bitter result for Leone Stars after the 0-0 draw with Chad in Monrovia but at least they showed a scoring knack this time away to Zambia, who are by no means a mediocre team in Africa.
If Leone Stars were able to score two goals away to a team like the Chipolopolo of Zambia, with four more matches left to play and only the Ivory Coast accruing maximum points from the two matches opponents have played so far, there is hope that Leone Stars could still win their next encounters and qualify from their group, once they keep scoring. But they have to overcome their laid-back attitude, especially in the dying minutes.
Africa Cup of Nations Qualifying Standings
Team GP W D L GD P
Ivory Coast2 2 0 0 0 +4 6
Zambia 2 1 0 1 -1 3
Sierra Leone 2 0 1 1 -1 1
Chad 2 0 1 1 -2 1
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