From SHAMAOMA MUSONDA At Barbourfields Stadium, Bulawayo –
Zimbabwe 0 Zambia 3
ZAMBIA yesterday lifted the COSAFA Under-20 title at the Africa Union Sports Commission (AUSC) Region Five Games after blowing away hosts Zimbabwe in the second-half.
This also meant that Zambia finished the two-week long tournament with 27 medals, seven of them gold with the football team’s dominance being the highlight of the 2014 Games.
Star man Patrick Ngoma opened the scoring before substitute Harrison Chisala added a second in quick succession prior to a Solomon Sakala penalty midway in the second half to completely kill off the contest.
The third goal also silenced the otherwise noisy crowd that had now come to terms that their side, so resilient in the first half, was about to suffer the same fate as four other sides before them.
The statistics keep reading well for the coach Hector Chilombo as his side ended the tournament with 19 goals, conceding one and only from a penalty on Day-One.
Zambia missed a myriad of chances in the first half as the first half ended goalless though Chilombo was left satisfied after two strikes came off the post.
The first attack in the seventh minute by Ngoma saw his header bounce off the crossbar and the follow up by Patson Daka was saved by Zimbabwe goalkeeper Kelvin Shangiwa before he was rested for Harrison Chisala.
Ngoma had a sight of goal in the 44th minute but shot straight at the goalkeeper before he hit the top corner post in the 46th minute.
However, he could not be denied in the 53rd minute after a Crispin Sakulanda free-kick on the right for Ngoma’s seven goal of the tournament.
Chisala scored Zambia’s second and his fourth of the tournament four minutes later before Zimbabwe turned rough and started picking up one yellow card after another.
It came as no surprise that one yellow turned into red in the 73rd minute for Leslie Lunga, who carelessly hacked Kasashi Lupiya in the box for a penalty that Sakala calmly slotted in the 77th minute.
Chisala had a one-on-one scoring opportunity with Shangiwa but failed to clip the ball over the keeper to save the hosts from further blushes.
The Zambian players rushed to the bench soon after the final whistle to lift Chilombo and his assistant Bilton Musonda whom they also forced to join in a victory dance.