Zambia’s new Kappa shirts did not bring the Chipolopolo any luck, and Nigeria ended up beating Zambia 2-1 in an exciting thriller that was a tale of two halves in Ndola.
Nigeria dominated the first half, except for a few displays of individual brilliance by Zambia, and went ahead by two goals from their young guns, Arsenals’ Alex Iwobi and the Citizens’ Kelechi Iheanacho.
The West Africans’ coherence was superior as they overran the midfield, which is something that has always been the Zambians’ strength. Only poor finishing by the Eagles prevented the score from being more lopsided. Naija and Bet
But then the second half came and Nyirenda made his changes, showing the man’s true potential.
Within minutes he had hauled off the hapless Chama and brought on Kondwani Mtonga. The Green Buffaloes defender had experienced an afternoon to forget as a series of defensive howlers nearly resulted in furthering an embarrassing scoreline in favour of the visitors.
All day he stood in the shadow of the sun – not the one in the sky, but the one also named Stopilla – who repeatedly stepped in to clean up after him.
Sure there were a few more glimmers of danger for the Nigerians, such as when John Obi Mikel nearly made it three with a spectacular volley from the edge of the area which Mweene did well to tip over his crossbar – but the half belonged to Zambia.
Kalaba finally containing his frustration and became a constant menace, and he came close to reducing the deficit when he glided past Ndidi on the left-hand side before unleashing a shot that the impressive Ikeme blocked from point-blank range.
Zambia finally got the goal that their endeavour deserved with 19 minutes left on the clock when Mbesuma took advantage of some terrible defending from Kenneth Omeruo.
The defender made a mess of a long ball into the box and the veteran number 9 used his strength to shrug off the Nigerian the way one peels off an oversized shirt, and he uncurled a bomb past the brilliant Ikeme on the turn.
Wave after wave of Chipolopolo attacks followed as they chased an equaliser, but the Super Eagles held on to get their campaign off to a winning start.
Coach Nyirenda rightfully counted out the positives from the defeat, saying: “We are rebuilding the team and at the same time expecting to qualify for the Fifa World Cup. We have brought new players to the team and I think they blended well with the old players,”
“But most of all I am happy with the response we got from our fans. After conceding those two goals they continued to support us. That means that we have real Chipolopolo supporters.
They went on until the last minute. Even when we missed those chances they kept on chanting for us.But football being what it is, the result today went the other way. I would like to assure our fans that we will compensate this loss in upcoming matches and give them what they deserve.”
Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr seemed to agree, saying that while the first half went according to plan, the second became a fight for survival.
“The result today is a reflection of what happened in the match. What happened in the first half is what we expected. We played well and we scored. In the second half Zambia was the better team. They pushed and pushed and they almost made it 2-2 but the spirit of our team is very good so we managed to defend until the end,” said Rohr.
The Chipolopolo’s next fixture is a difficult away match to Cameroon in November.
However, as difficult as it is on paper, especially after the Lions grabbed a point away in Algeria last night, one must agree that if they play like they did against Nigeria, or improve ever so slightly by learning from their mistakes – it will be tough not just for the visitors, but for the hosts as well.
Make that very tough.
