The Zambia national team last night suffered a 4-2 defeat to Isreal in an international friendly match played away in Jerusalem at the Hamoshava stadium in Petah Tikva.
It was Zambia’s second consecutive defeat after losing 1-0 to Mali in their previous friendly match.
Israel opened the scoring in the 21st minute after Tai Boribo managed to find the back of the net from a close range and two minutes later, Dean David doubled their lead when he headed in a corner to end the first half 2-0.
The Chipolopolo were a much-improved side in the second half which saw Klings Kangwa pull one back before substitute Rally Bwalya headed home the equalizer in the 67 minutes from a Lubambo Musonda cross.
Just when many thought the Chipolopolo boys were headed for a winner, Isreal restored their lead in the 89th minute after the ball deflected off Emmanuel Banda, the home team got the fourth goal through Itsmar Shviro via a quick counterattack to condemn Zambia to a 4-2 defeat.
Reacting to the result, Chipolopolo stand-in coach Moses Sichone said his side started on a slow note in the first half due to a lack of communication which resulted in conceding two early goals.
” We didn’t start well the game, more especially in the first half, Isreal changed their formation after seeing how we were playing, we were outnumbered in the midfield,” he said. I tried to shout the instructions to my boys but it was not easy and it was too late, we conceded easy goals, due to a lack of communication.”
Sichone said he was impressed with the team’s performance in the second half but it was unfortunate they lost despite working on their earlier mistakes in the first half.
“Coming to the second half, I had to rectify the mistakes we made in the first half, so we tried to close them and we looked better, the boys took what I told them, but, unfortunately, we lost the game, we came back from 2-0 and we had chances to lead the game, but it’s a young team, we missed several players, I think the future looks bright for the team.
“I saw a lot of positives, I picked out the attitude, after I spoke with the team, they reacted and also the intensity in the second half, we were just unlucky and unfortunate that I couldn’t give a chance to every player but I look forward to the coming games so that they can get minutes.”
Zambia’s game was part of the preparations for the back-to-back 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Lesotho in March of next year.
