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Zambia dominated World Cup finalists Angola throughout to win Saturday’s Cosafa Castle Cup final in Lusaka, but only got the decisive goals for a 2-0 triumph in the final quarter hour.
After squandering several good chances and also being thwarted by Angola goalkeeper Lama, Zambia finally made a break through in the 76th minute when Dube Phiri broke the deadlock with a close in header.
He took advantage of some uncharacteristically slopping marking to sneak in between the two center backs for the goal.
Substitute Chaswe Nsofwa, playing his first international in two years, added the second in the final minute after Rainford Kalaba stole the ball away and set him to score with a powerful shot from inside the penalty area.
Zambia, seeking to recover from the setback of a home defeat in the MTN Africa Cup of Nations qualifier a fortnight ago, set a furious pace in the opening 10 minutes with several good chances, notably for captain Chris Katongo.
Lama made several fine stops for the shell-shocked Angolans, who went into the match without defeat in five encounters since their opening World Cup finals game against Portugal in Germany in June.
Angola were restricted to just two second-half chances, the first wasted by Love and the second seeing Santana’s shot saved by Zambia goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene.
“Zambia dominated from the start and deserved to win,” said Angola’s coach Luis Oliveira Goncalves after the game.
“We had to deliver because we were under so much pressure,” said his victorious Zambian counterpart Patrick Phiri.
Zambia join Angola and Zimbabwe as three time winners of the annual regional championship, which started in 1997.
Zambia’s previous triumphs came in the first two editions in 1997 and 1998.