• JUBILANT under-20 players hoist the AFCON trophy after they beat Senegal at National Heroes Stadium in Lusaka yesterday. Picture by JEAN MANDELA

By SANDRA MWILA at Heroes National Stadium –
Zambia 2 Senegal 0
FIRST half goals by Man-of-the-tournament Patson Daka and Edward Chilufya gave Zambia a first Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) title as the juju-believing Senegal side was easily beaten in a physically charged match played before a capacity crowd.
This is second major continental title Zambia has won following the Chipolopolo triumph in 2012 during the senior AFCON final in Gabon.
This historic final saw Zambia start poorly and on the back-foot in the early stages as Senegal pushed for an early goal against a nervous home side defence.
Senegal twice had opportunities in the eighth and 10th minutes but Ibrahim Naine, who found himself face-to-face with Zambia goalie Mangani Banda, opted to shoot tamely for the keeper to collect easily.
Two minutes later, Krepin Diatta crossed dangerously from the left but, with Banda beaten, his defenders cleared the lines before engaging in a bit of argy-bargy over the lapses.
Whatever was said to each other seemed to work, instigated by an Emmanuel Banda defence-splitting pass found Fashion Sakala who, after one deft touch, had sight of goal and took the bait, but the angle was never in his favour as the ball went wide on 15 minutes.
His strike partner Daka, who was free, expressed his frustration. Two minutes later, Sakala made amends when, in a butter-fingered  moment, Senegal  goalie Lamina Sarr fumbled with a harmless looking cross from the left byline  by the Zambian  forward and Daka, swift as a fox, poked  home the opener.
It was 1-0 to Zambia and four goals for Daka in this tournament, at par with leading scorer Luther Singh from South Africa.
Senegal pushed hard for the equaliser and had a chance in the 28th minute when Prosper Chiluya thoughtlessly dragged down Senegal forward Aliou Badji at the edge of the box but the West Africans wasted the opportunity.
Zambia doubled the advantage in the 35th minute through Chilufya, who together with Daka, chased down a speculative pass but as the hapless Sarr tried to clear, Chilufya stuck out a leg for a successful block which saw the rebound loop over the hapless goalie and into an unguarded net.
That also marked Chilufya’s fourth goal in the competition.
Zambia started the second half on a fast note looking for a clincher, obviously aware that Senegal was down 2-0 at half time to South Africa and won the game 4-2, and on 52 minutes, Daka lobbed over an advancing keeper but Mamadou Diary was on hand to clear the ball off the line for a corner, which was wasted.
As the game wore on, Senegal players started losing their cool and defender Diarra was yellow carded for punching Daka in an-off-the-ball incident in the 84th minute.
Meanwhile, Zambia coach Beston Chambeshi bench kept warming as he went a full 90 minutes without making a substitution, adhering to the saying, if it is not broken, do not fix it.
His first substitution was the bringing on of Benson Chali for a limping Emmanuel Banda three minutes the referee’s option time.
But it was a stellar performance from Banda for he has been outstanding throughout the tournament. Keeper Banda earned himself Player-of-the-match accolade.
The whistle blew and Zambia are finally champions as Senegal lost a second straight final at this stage of the competition.