LEOPARDS BEAT ZESCO UNITED IN CAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE OPENER

A 66’ minute Solomon Sakala own goal condemned ZESCO United to their first 2021/22 CAF Champions League defeat at the hands of Royal Leopards of Eswatini.

ZESCO United came into todays encounter aiming to start their champions league campaign on a high having had a good record against Eswatini teams they have faced in recent years.

Like the script has been in the past, the Zambian Super League champions looked the perfect article from inception.

ZESCO United made Royal Leopards look like an amateur side with the visitors dominating proceedings for most parts of the first half.

Kenyan international striker Jesse Were had arguably one the worst games of his career after failing to capitalize on a few crucial opportunities that came his way.

ZESCO United had a comfortable start with veteran striker Winstone Kalengo testing Ncamiso Dlamini with a powerful shot that the latter saved comfortably.

In the 7’ minute Kalengo was back again on target with another powerful shot after being put through by Simone Silwimba.

The clearest of goals for the visitors came in the 16’ minute with Silwimba powering across a sumptuous pass that saw Were’s header saved by Dlamini at close range.

In the 18’ minute Were was back again on target only this time his effort went over the bar.

ZESCO United could have ended the first half with 3-0 or 4-0 score line had Kalengo and Were converted their efforts.

Royal Leopards came back slightly stronger and grew in confidence in the second half of the game.

The hosts could have taken the lead in the 49’ minute of the second half had Thabiso Mokenkoane been more clinical fortunately for the visitors Otieno was up to the task.

In the 55’ minute it was clear that tables had turned with Leopards surging forward looking for an opener.

Muzi Dlamini saw his close-range effort ricochets off the cross bar with Otieno completely beaten.

In the 66’ Royal Leopards took the lead in very unfortunate circumstances following Solomon Sakala’s misjudged defensive clearance which ended up at the back of the net.

With Otieno out of his position and completely beaten, Sakala attempted to stop Magagula Juniors effort which was almost destined for the back of the net.

Despite making a few changes, coach Numba Mumamba’s side could not find the back the net.

ZESCO United will be hoping to turn the tables around when the two sides meet again the second leg encounter scheduled for the Levy Mwanawasa stadium on Saturday next week.

“We are very disappointed with the defeat. This is a game we could have easily won. We created numerous chances, but we couldn’t convert those opportunities into goals. We gave away the lone goal they got due to our poor defending.”

The overall performance of the team was fine and we are happy with that. We just need to improve on our conversion late which was very bad. We could have gone back home with five goals, but we failed to convert those chances,” Mumamba said.

Kenyan International and ZESCO United striker, Jesse Were expects the team to bounce back stronger following todays defeat.

“We failed to convert our chances. We will go and work on our finishing. This is the first half. The second leg will be in Ndola and am positive we will be very much ready for them. I am personally disappointed that I failed to convert my chances.

Our fans should expect a positive result when we meet Royal Leopards in Ndola next week.”

Royal Leopards beat ZESCO United 1-0 in the CAF Champions League first leg preliminary round encounter played at Mavuso stadium, Manzini, Eswatini.

Author: Desmond Katongo