Zambia have secured their passage to the 2015 African Cup of Nations finals with a 1-0 victory over Mozambique courtesy of a Given singuluma strike, reports Zambian Eye sports corespondent.
And Cape Verde ensured qualification as group leaders after beating Niger 3-1 on Saturday to claim top place.
The win in Maputo was Zambia first away win and second successive in the qualifiers after a difficult start that saw them staring at the prospect of missing out on the 2015 tournament after picking up two points in their first three games.
Zambia were on the back-foot for most of the first half as Mozambique dominated led by Elias Pelembe who had a 9th minute shot saved by his Mamelodi Sundowns club mate Kennedy Mweene.
Zambia’s best chance of the first half came in the 31st minute when defender Christopher Munthali header off a Rainford Kalaba cross was saved by Ricardo Campos.
Mozambique striker Maninho then missed a glorious opportunity to give the Mamba’s a 1-0 halftime lead when he failed to connect with Josemar’s cross in the 42nd minute.
Zambia then survived an injustice after Mozambique won a dubious penalty in the 58th minute when Emmanuel Mbola’s clearance with his feet was adjudged to be a handball.
Mweene, though, saved the resultant penalty taken by Pelembe.
Zambia recovered from that episode to seal the win in the 66th minute through striker Given Singuluma who volleyed in from close range after some good work by Kalaba.
Chipolopolo move to 8 points, four behind leaders Cape Verde who beat bottom placed Niger in the late Group F kickoff on Saturday night while Mozambique stay third on 5 points.
Zambia face Cape Verde on Wednesday in Ndola.
A well deserved win by Chipolopolo and a good gift after losing our President. However, the work starts now. We should ensure Cape Vede is beaten here at home. This will provide a boost to players as we start our campaign for another Africa Cup Title in Equatorial Guinea next year. Well done Zambia and may God bless our nationa!
Zambia did not put up a good display. The players lack confidence when they are with the ball. This results in panic and a lot of misplaced chances. They release the ball too quickly out of fear and mostly releasing the ball to nobody. Hold the ball, check for your colleague who is not marked or who is in an advantageous position. And also a lot of weak shots, most shots on goal were porridge shots and not nshima shots. In Uganda recently, a player scored and even tearing the net, that’s what we want to see, by the way, it was a not a Chinese net. Hit that thing harder, has your coach ever told you about what an Ashios Melu shot did in Ghana. Anyway Well done for the result, but you can’t carry such a disjointed display to Equatorial Guinea.