Zesco to face Sundowns in Champions League semis

Zesco United will play Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa in the Caf Champions League semi-finals after finishing second in Group A following a 1-1 with Wydad Casablanca on Wednesday.

Kenyan defender had opened the scoring in the 16th minute when headed home from a corner by John Ching’andu but Nigerian forward Chissom Chikatara equalized in the 54th minute for the two sides to share the spoils.

The draw meant that Zesco finished in second with 9 points having registered two wins, three draws and a single loss in Group A which comprised of Al Ahly (Egypt), Asec Mimosas (Ivory Coast) and Wydad Casablanca (Morocco).

“What is important is that we have reached the semi-finals. We will prepare for Sundowns like we have always done for any other team. They are not extraordinary. They have done very well in the competition but we were not expected to reach this far. We can no longer be under rated,” said Lwandamina after the Wydad match.

Of the draw with Wydad Lwandamina said: “We were the better side in the match today. Even in the match we played in Morrocco, we were the better side despite them winning. Today we started positively but we failed to sustain until the final whistle. We went to sleep once and they scored.”

And Wydad Casablanca coach John Toshack said Zesco United played well in the first half but his side reorganized and commanded the second.

“First half today, the home team played very very well and we were lucky to come away a goal down. But second half we controlled things a lot more and we got better than the home side,” Toshack said.

The semi-finals will be played over two legs, the first leg during the weekend of16th to 18th September while the second leg will be played during the weekend of 23rd to 25th September