Sudan vs Zambia – OpenThread

January 22nd, 2008 | by: Laurie | Comments(21)

Sudan 0-3 Zambia

—————– 3′ Chamanga
—————–51′ Mulenga
—————–59′ Katongo

Welcome to the battle of the Group C minnows, Sudan and Zambia. Zambia in white, Sudan in red. Hit “REFRESH” for updates.

90 + 3 The whistle blows, and Zambia is top of the group on goal differential. They can enjoy this till the 26th. At least.

82′ Mulengo on, Chamanga off for Zambia

79′ Farah in, Mohamed off for Sudan

75′ Katongo (Zambia) booked for a high kick. No kidding. He blasted the guy in the shoulder with his cleat.

69′ Phiri out, Mayuka in for Zambia

65′ Mwanza of Zambia is booked for pretty much nothing. Maybe a little pull-down from behind?

59′ GOAL! for Zambia. The Sudanese keeper punches it right to Katongo, who blasts it in. Sudan seem to be folding.

56′ Substitution for Sudan. Sido out Babiker in. Going for fresh offensive firepower.

51′ GOAL Zambia by Jacob Mulenga. A corner was not completely cleared and Mulenga heads it in. Tough luck for Sudan.

45 + 1 Halftime. Both teams are playing average ball, stretched almost end-to-end, with oodles of space. And they’re being done in by inexact passing. Other than the third-minute goal by Chamanga for Zambia and one lovely near-miss for Sudan, nothing’s making my heart go pitter-pat. With luck they’ll get a little more comfortable in the second half.

31′ Lado of Sudan is booked for a trip from behind.

24′ Substitution already for Sudan. Mohamed out, Hado (?) in.

15′ Bakhit (Sudan) gets booked for a hard shove.

3′ GOAL! by Chamanga for Zambia. Nothing like starting out right.

Both are looking for points here before doing battle with the big boys of Egypt and Cameroon. The pregame is starting, and it’s sad to see the stadium 3/4 empty. My stream has stopped streaming twice so far, and we’re only five minutes into coverage, so we’ll see whether this works.

The Big Picture.:. Group C. Kumasi. 19:30 kick-off, local time (19:30 GMT, 20:30 CET, 2:30 EST, 11:30 PST)

To put this lightly, whoever loses this game likely has booked their tickets back home, as the overwhelming favorites to march on through to the knockout rounds are Egypt and Cameroon. Neither squad has had much success in the tournament in recent times, and it would take a huge upset for one just to make it through to the group stages – though Zambia appears to be readying for an upset after a shock thrashing of South Africa in September.

Scouting.:.

Sudan: The entire squad is based in Sudan, specifically just two rival clubs. About 2/3 play for Al-Hilal, the country’s most successful club in history, while the others come from Al-Merrikh. There aren’t any names which the casual observer would likely know, and the same can probably be said for many diehard fans of the sport. The midfield is patrolled by the legendary Haitham Mustafa, while the goals that do come will likely be from Faisal Agab, Sudan’s number one goalscorer ever. Considering this their first tournament in 30 some odd years, they’ve already got their victory.

Zambia: The Copper Bullets, one of the coolest names in the tourny, will have more at their disposal than the Sudanese. They are mostly Zambian based, but do have a few names which ply their trade elsewhere, and some in Europe. James Chamanga, who plays in South Africa, was left off of the original squad and was so enraged he scored 5 goals in his club’s next game. Methinks he should be benched for Sudan and then unleashed for the next two games. Chris Katongo, another forward, famously scored 3 goals against South Africa in September despite being huge underdogs, a major victory for the country. Chris’ brother, Felix, can also score goals, it’s just his are from the midfield. The center of the park also has a couple young talents in Isaac Chansa and Clifford Mulenga.

Team Blogs.:. Both are available, if you feel the calling.

Streaming.:.

Sudan v Zambia here.

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