Tanzania V Zambia: Poulsen Abandons Cautious Approach to Salvage A Draw

While CECAFA Senior challenge Cup should be treated as a tournament for testing players and experimenting, Poulsen thinks otherwise. The bulky of his squad selection are familiar faces. Against Zambia he took no chance especially in the first half. Perhaps according Zambia too much respect, Poulsen started with five midfielders in a tactical system that closely resembled a 4-5-1.

Frank Domayo, Abubakar Salum and Hassan Dilunga flooded the midfield. Kiemba and Ngassa played in the flanks but restricted their forward movement; they were more in the midfield zone. Kiemba who always plays just behind the two main strikers, Ulimwengu and Samatta was this time far removed from Elias Maguli up front.  This left Elias Maguli isolated as a lone striker. 

Closely surrounded by three defenders, Elias Maguli proved to be of little help. The virgin muddy  pitch did not help matter. Ngassa who was expected to dribble inwards to support Maguli could not do it thanks to the poor state of the pitch. 

Unsurprisingly, Tanzania dominated possession in the first half but did not offer any threat going forward. There was a reluctance to throw many players forward into attack.  This was a lesson he learnt the hard way from Ivory Coast who cruelly exposed the large gaps left by Stars when pushing forward. 

Therefore despite the long spells of good possession Tanzania only managed two shots. One shot was off-target when Amri Kiemba set through Ngassa who fluffed away his tame shot despite being one-on-one with the Zambian goalkeeper, Nsabata Toaster.

Zambia’s goal four minutes to the breather offered a clue to what Tanzania lacked. While Tanzania had only Maguli up front, Zambia seemed to always have at least two strikers up front. Their lead came as no surprise.  Felix Katongo pin-point cross was met by Ronald Kampamba’s well-hit header. Said Morad could have done better with his marking. Kampamba’s header was perfectly stamped and addressed to the back of the net. Mapunda despite his reflex and outstretching himself had no chance whatsoever. By the end of the first half, Chipolopolo had more shots on targets. Ivo Mapunda was consequently the busier of the two goalkeepers.

Sensing defeat, Poulsen threw caution to the wind and switched into attacking in the second half. Without introducing any substitutions, he pushed Kiemba further to link up with Elias Maguli who had been isolated in the first half. Abubakar Salum and Hassan Dilunga were encouraged to venture forward. As a result Tanzania looked more promising in the second half. It only took three minutes for the equalizer to materialize. Salum Abubakar’s corner was headed home by Said Morad who was impressive throughout the match bar the poor marking that gave Zambia the lead.

Looking back through the entire match, Poulsen might be frustrated with the draw. Over the ninety minutes his side came top. Had he not taken the over-cautious approach in the first half, perhaps he would have ended his seven match winless-streak.  A draw was a fair result to both sides despite Tanzania’s possession dominancy.