Zambia hold Cote d’Ivoire in friendly

Cote d’Ivoire and Zambia battled to a 1-1 draw in a friendly international match played at the National Heroes Stadium in Lusaka on Saturday.

The draw saw Zambia remain unbeaten against Cote d’Ivoire now four successive meetings since losing 1-0 to The Elephants in the 1992 African Cup quarterfinals.

Goals from Zambia striker Ronald Kampamba and Elephants midfielder Ousmane Ouattara saw the two sides share the spoils.

Both sides also featured their home-based B teams as the match was played outside the Fifa match date.

Cote d’Ivoire will rue the missed opportunities in the first half that they enjoyed the lion’s share in attack.

Sewe Sport striker Roger Assale who was making his second visit to Zambia since May when he faced Nkana in the Caf Confederation Cup group stage was a handful for the hosts’ defence.

Assale beat Donashano Malama in the 14th minute but fired his subsequent shot wide.

He had the Zambia goal at his mercy again in the 27th minute when he skipped past Christopher Munthali but sent his final effort across the face of goal.

Zambia shrugged off the early pressure to take a 1-0 halftime lead through Kampamba after he made no mistake on the rebound after goalkeeper Sylvain Obohouo failed to properly clear the strikers initial shot.

The Elephants equalised in the 52nd minute when Ouattara headed in Ba Loua D’vila’s corner.

However, Zambia failed to snatch the win in the 63rd minute when Obohouo dived the right way to deny Zanaco defender Fackson Kapumbu from the penalty spot.

The Elephants conceded the penalty after Ouattara handled the ball in the area.

The friendly was played as part of events to mark Zambia’s 50th Independence anniversary that fell on October 24.

 

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