Cup finals are won by special and individual brilliance, and that’s the summation of the Under-20’s victory in Gaborone after the Keagan Mumba coached side came from a goal down to beat the stubborn Angolan youngsters in what was a nerve wrecking final.
The match looked as though it would be headed for the lottery of a penalty shoot-out with the teams locked at 1-1, but Young Chipolopolo found a winner in injury-time to seal their third win in a row in this competition.
Angola deservedly took the lead on 32 minutes when Paciencia Cristovao headed a looping effort into the net as Zambia battled to get out of first gear in the game.
Ronald Kampamba then shot wide minutes into the second half as Zambia came out of the blocks quicker in the second period, and they were level on 66 minutes when Evans Kangwa netted his seventh goal of the 2011 Metropolitan COSAFA Under-20 Youth Championships.
After finding space on the right, he blasted the ball into the roof of the net from the angle.
Adriano forced a fine save from Zambian goalkeeper Moses Mapulanga late on as he showed good feet to get his shot away from the edge of the area, but minutes later it was the Zambians who scored.
Kampamba showed calmness under pressure to provide a perfect lob over Angolan keeper Francisco Lirio in the 91st minute and hand the trophy back to the jubilant Young Chipolopolo.
Kangwa was also named player of the year and now join the national team camp on Tuesday with Sate Sate and Bruce Musakanya.
Zambia will keep the trophy after winning it three times in a row.
Meanwhile, hosts Botswana collected the bronze medal when they beat Malawi 1-0 in a hard-fought clash that ended with the Young Flames reduced to 10 men.
Botswana have shown themselves to have resilience in defense in this tournament – the only two goals they have conceded in four games in the competition came in the semifinal defeat to Zambia.
They were solid at the back against Malawi again, bar some early nervous moments, and managed to nick an all-important goal themselves on 38 minutes.
Ogomoditswe Baoleni smashed the ball home after an attack that originated from the right. Malawian goalkeeper Carlington Msomali punched a cross straight into the path of the striker and he made no mistake with his finish.
Dalisto Sailesi really should have brought Malawi level in the second period, but missed an excellent chance after being set up by the lively Tony Chitsulo.
Malawi’s Kondwani Lufeyo received his marching orders four minutes into injury-time after a bad tackle on Tshwanelo Mojanaga, and the Young Flames are unable to force an equaliser to send the game to a shoot-out.
QFM
MY BOYS
well done you age cheaters.
YOU have a very very big problem !!!
Congrats!
Well done boys.This one is zee maningi.
Congrats young men and FAZ please nurture this group into a dependable and prolific group. Lusaka Times, please do spell checks before posting articles. And by the way it is player of the tournament and not player of the year
Under 20 my asss. They play over age players. Kalusha was 18 yrs old for 5 years
kci, your asss indeed. why cant you be happy? are you a congolee? we all know Kalu was born in 1964, at least we who were soccer fans then. those cosafa zed guys were fantastic. what will you ever achieve for zambia yourself, just wagging your asss?
kci, your asss indeed. why cant you be happy? are you a congolee? we all know Kalu was born in 1964, at least we who were soccer fans then. those cosafa zed guys were fantastic. what will you ever achieve for zambia yourself, just wagging your asss?
kci, your asss indeed. why cant you be happy? are you a congolee? we all know Kalu was born in 1964, at least we who were soccer fans then. those cosafa zed guys were fantastic. what will you ever achieve for zambia yourself, just wagging your asss?
Shamenda has been shamed. he did not even send a an officiakl from his ministry but FAZ handled everything. maybe the old man must learn that attacking faz will take him nowhere
Shamenda has been shamed. he did not even send a an officiakl from his ministry but FAZ handled everything. maybe the old man must learn that attacking faz will take him nowhere
Under 20 always brings proud to our nation. I hope the senior team next year will bring the Africa Cup home.
Zambia under 25 beats Angola under 28 to win the Cosafa Under 20 Finals.Â
Zambia under 30.lol
Zambians! Cant you just give credit where it is due without being negative?? the boys did a very good job, we ought to give them a pat on the back…
And who cares? Whether they are under 20 or 30 so long the medal is ours no vundu. But i hope bafana sibazasila when needed most. They should take a leap from messi and ronaldinyo chakuti uko.
Well done boys gentlemen.Us we don`t care even if the average age is 32.All we want are em cups.Congrats once more.
thanks u youngsters,congrats
number 12, you can’t blame them, out of that U20 squad only two players are below the age of 20 the rest aren’t why give credit when you take a team that’s over age?people who were in my class and older than me are playing on that team and have you looked at their passports? it says the chaps were born in 1995, maybe we should give credit for them not being disqualified?
AMEN.
some of u r 17 years for 16 years now!!!!
#6 ukutumpa fuu. What cheating do u see?
Zambians are always negative of their own. They vote for foreign mps even presidents, dontae money to foreign pastors now here you are instead of congratulating your own team you are busy saluting forign loosers.Shame on you. WELL DONE BOYS.HARD WORK PAYS OFF IN THE END.
Well done ba chikulile.
what we are trying to point out here are the consequences of cheating. you may have won the cup quiet alright. but where your players u20s? no. we have been through this and it has never taken us anywhere because we play players who are at their peak. the time you expect them to shine after such tournaments, my Lord, they are already finished. remember gift kampamba? he even failed to relocate his family to europe cos according to his reg. & passport, he was under 23. wake up guys.
Well done boys and Team Keagan! you make Zambia proud.
we have situations were a child is fifteen years and yet the father is playing for u20 national team. infact this reminds me, for how long will mbola be sixteen years of age?
I know one player who is my age(30) but plays for under 18 of some club .He also completed grade l2 some 10 years ago.
The boys were a marvel to watch.The goals by Kangwa ang Kampamba were superb.Congratulations to the team and all the technical staff.
These are young boys! But 4 mbola katwishi.
I doubt if there waz any team with genuine U20 playerz at the just ended tournamant. Suppoze we just call it the Cosafa tournament so that nobody givez a damn with who fields 5 or indeed 42 years oldz?!
Being a Zambian domicile in Botswana and Angola I had the opportunity to watch Cosafa Tournament.The only team that seemed to have under 20s in majority is Botswana but the rest of teams hand above 20s in majority and for Zambia this will cost alot as in future will no base to build a senior team.This why we have problems as African teams to advance further at world cup tournament coz we future grand parents.
congratlations boyz
we should just be happy 4 the victory