By Nelson Kazeze
With ‘Top of the bill’ clash involving fresh from
being booted out of the lucrative CAF Confederations Cup Zanaco FC ‘The Bankers’ and MTN/FAZ Super League early pace setters ‘Kalampa’ Nkana FC being postponed, the Sunset
Stadium was host to a week seven clash between new money spenders Lusaka
Dynamos and army sponsored Green Buffaloes.
The contest boasted of four national team players and I
set out myself with a short trip to Sunset Stadium to witness who would set the
sun with three points in the bag.
Green Buffaloes were missing out on dependable Adrian
Chama who is out with the Futsal national team at the AFCON in south Africa and
enjoying the tournament with six goals in three matches but Coach Bilton
Musonda still named a strong starting eleven boasting of three Zambian
internationals in Stephen Kabamba,Buchizya Mfune and captain charisma Christopher
Katongo.
On the other side Coach Perry Mutapa had only one
International in enterprising young Conlyde Luchanga viewed by many as ‘Zambia’s
next big thing’ in his starting eleven billed for Saturday 15:00 hours local time in clash of supremacy between
young talent in Lusaka dynamos and the experience in Green Buffaloes.
The teams emerged out of the changing rooms with
players from both sides seen walking onto the pitch bubbling with confidence as
the referees waited to blow the whistle at 15:00 hours sharp.
With the Lusaka dynamos renting the sunset stadium and
acting as the home side, the onus was on enterprising Luchanga and ever
improving Habasimbi Emmanuel to set the ball rolling into what was expected to
be an entertaining match.
Off the whistle blew and Lusaka Dynamos were out to
unsettle the experienced Bilton Musonda tutored side. Talent seemed to have
prevailed over experience as the young talented players from Dynamos were seen
toying around with the GB FC defence from time to time but could not find the
back of the net to change the status quo of the game.
Only a handful of fans were seen in the stadium so it
was up to the ‘Divas Led’ choir supporters from Lusaka Dynamos and the ‘Madalas
Mixed’ choir from GB FC to provide cheers to the 22 men on the pitch.
GB FC spending most of the time on the back pedal had
to rely on counter attacks to test the dynamos goalkeeper who was always looked
shaky with every GB FC attempt on Goal. The counter attacking football paid off
in the 44th minute after Zambian international Jack Chirwa won a
duel in the midfield to make a dashing run and a simple long range short on
target that shaky Dynamos goalkeeper could not prevent from reaching the back
of the net to leave the half time scores at 1-0 in favour of GB FC.
As usual the ever present soccer fan Kennedy Magrosa
was seen in the stands enjoying the game. The second half resumed with Dynamos
pilling more pressure on the Buchizya Mfune led backline but could not find the
back of the net mostly due to a ‘Pembela Nsokele’ attitude by the front three
to the anger of Coach Perry.
GB FC captain Christopher Katongo benefited from a
mishap in the 18 yard box in the 52nd minute after another ‘School
Boy’ mistake by the Dynamos goalkeeper to get himself on the scoresheet with a
scrambled tap in that resulted from a Marlon Gondwe long throw in.
This however could not stop the young and spirited
dynamos team that continued pressing on as their ever singing choir kept on
cheering the youthful team.
Enterprising Luchanga who has been seemingly out of
form emerged from his shell and showed flashes of brilliance that paid off in
no time with GB FC conceding a penalty in the 78th minute. Luchanga’s
exploits could however not be turned into heroics as he took a ‘simple penalty’
that GB FC goalkeeper Silavwe Geoffrey easily saved to leave the scores at 2-0
in favour of the army sponsored side.
However it was only a matter of time before Luchanga
could turn himself into a hero from zero with a top right corner thunderbolt
that the GB FC keeper could only pick from the back of the net for Luchanga’s
first goal of the league to make the scores at 2-1 with only four minutes left
before the end of ninety minutes.
As the loud and ever singing Dynamos choir stepped up
their singing skills with ‘beautiful’ dances, the last minutes of the match
turned into a boring affair with GB FC players falling over unnecessarily to
prevent the ever pressing Dynamos team from equalising.
At ninety minutes the referee blew the whistle to
signal the supremacy of experience over talent as Dynamos continued on their
winless streak.
As the sun set Buffaloes team drove away in their
Higer bus with three points in the bag from the Sunset stadium.
