By MOSES CHIMFWEMBE –
Zambia 2 South Africa 5
COACH Hector Chilombo was left gutted with the Zambia Under-20 soccer team performance following a humiliating defeat to perennial rivals South Africa in the final Group B match at the ongoing 2015 Africa Youth Championship (AYC) in Senegal.
Chilombo said Zambia deserved a better result and attributed the trouncing to the players taking time to settle and gave South Africa too much respect and room to capitalise on the shortcomings.
“It is a bad finish for Zambia, a team that played so well against Mali and Ghana. I’m not happy as a coach. South Africa played well and was better organized. They were effective on the counter attack,” he told cafonline.com.
He said South Africa utilised their chances better and managed to catch Zambia on counter attacks which they positively executed.
“When we went to the break at 1-1, we believed that we could get the job done but our opponents utilised their chances better. Even when they scored their second we kept fighting but we got punished on the counter,” he said.

. Chilombo

Chilombo said he was aware that fans back home were not happy because Zambia is considered a powerhouse in football but that the boys needed to be supported because they have a bright future ahead.
“The boys need to be encouraged because they have a future ahead. We have learnt a lot at this tournament from the technical team to the playing body. The level of the competition has gone up and the standard is high. Zambia will host the 2017 edition of the African U-20 Championship and we hope to prepare a good team for competition,” he said.
Stand in captain, Spencer Sautu said losing all the three games at the tournament was devastating for the team.
“I am sad we have disappointed our people back home. At personal level I can say I am devastated, we should have done better,” he said.
Zambia’s thrashing to South Africa completed a miserable outing for the side that started with a 1-0 defeat to Mali before suffering a 2-1 beating at the hands of Ghana.
Meanwhile, the Sunday night match saw the two teams playing for nothing but pride having been both eliminated from the competition.
The match played at the Leopold Sedar Senghor Stadium in Dakar saw Zambia’s defence ripped apart as Dumisani Zuma and Tyroane Sandows inspired Amajita to victory after scoring a hat trick and a brace respectively.
Amajita dominate possession with striker Zuma breaking the deadlock in the 21st minute when he fired home with a powerful shot that bounced off the post before rolling into the net.
South Africa defender Kabelo Seriba headed into his own net nine minutes later to get the game back on level terms off a seemingly harmless cross from Peter Mulenga as the game went into half time 1-1.
After restart, Amajita kept pouncing on Zambia’s defence and restored their lead on 57 minutes when Sandows scored with superb precision from Zuma’s pass.
The Sandows, Zuma combination was a nightmare for the Zambians as the duo combined well to add more woes to the Zambian backline.
Sandows made it 3-1 on 63 minutes before he turned provider for Zuma’s second goal and the fourth for Amajita three minutes later. Three minutes from time, Sandows completed his hat-trick before Charles Zulu pulled one back for Zambia on the stroke of full time.