A Zambia side boosted by the return of Clifford Mulenga made Spain work hard for their 2-1 win at the Swangard Stadium in Burnaby.
Spain kept faith with the midfield unit that turned around their
opening game against Uruguay, with Sunny Stephen and Adrian Lopez
both named in the starting line-up, while Zambia were finally able
to call on their star man. It was Mulenga who drove the Africans
forward in the early stages, combining with Sebastian Mwansa and
Emmanuel Mayuka to drive the Spanish defence to distraction.
La Roja drew first blood though, when Mario Suarez
converted from the penalty spot with 30 minutes gone after Henry
Nyambe was penalised for a foul in the box.
Undeterred, the Copper Bullets continued to drive forward, a
tactic that left the Spaniards with plenty of space to exploit. The
blond-haired Diego Capel took full toll by scampering away down the
left and crossing for an unmarked Juan Manuel Mata to fire home the
second just before the interval.
George Lwandamina's young hopefuls stuck gamely to their
task and were finally rewarded when William Njobvu shrugged off the
attentions of Stephen to slip the ball under Adan 16 minutes from
time. Mulenga then almost brought them level when his acrobatic
scissor kick flew just wide.
Suffering a severe case of jitters, Spain resorted to long
balls in an effort to catch the opposing defence off guard. Crowd
favourites Zambia followed suit as the match came to an exciting
conclusion. And although the Africans carved out the better
chances, the boys in red clung on for the points.
Spain's final game is against Jordan in Burnaby on
Saturday, while Zambia travel to Victoria to take on Uruguay.
