Zambia Held By Botswana in CHAN Qualifier

Botswana came from a goal down to hold 10-man Zambia to a 1-1 draw in the 1st leg of the CHAN qualifier.

Herve Renard started with the same line up which beat Zimbabwe last week but again, the partnership of Festus Mbewe and Bornwell Mwape continues eyebrows and it was a susprise when the Frenchman replaced the Nchanga Rangers hitman with Zanaco’s live wire Moses Phiri on the half hour mark.

In 15 minutes, Phiri shot on target twice, something which both Mbewe and Mwape failed to do for 30 minutes.

After the break, the match improved but Zambia was dealt a blow when the Alex Ng’onga was sent off after accumulating his second yellow of the afternoon.

Renard shifted Phiri to the left flank while Mbewe played as a lone striker.

Botswana gained grip of the match and sensing that his players were sitting off, Renard introduced the forward thinking Misheck Chaila for Sydney Kalume and Zambia began to threaten on the break.

Mbewe took advantage of the Botswana captain’s miskicked back pass to slot home his first international goal which put Zambia 1-0 up.

Mukuka Mulenga was replaced by Kabaso Chongo and before he could settle, Botswana replied from a free kick to draw level.

Zambia will host Botswana in either Lusaka or Ndola in the second leg. The winner face Mauritius or Zimbabwe in the next round.

Posted by Editor on July 27, 2013. Filed under SPORTS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry