OWN CORRESPONDENT, Lusaka | Sunday 5.00pm.
GOALKEEPER Davies Phiri was transformed from a villain to a hero this weekend as Zambia reached the Castle Cup Southern Africa championship semi-finals.
Zambia won a bruising quarter-final against Mozambique 4-3 on penalties following a 1-1 draw after normal time and will now face Angola in Lusaka on August 14.
Phiri conceded a bizarre own goal after 20 minutes at Independence Stadium and David Siame levelled with a scrambled 70th-minute goal before a capacity 30,000 crowd.
The diminutive goalkeeper stopped two Mozambican kicks in the shootout while Emmanuel Chibale, Dudley Fichite, Peter Chitila and Mark Sinyangwe scored to squeeze the defending champions through.
Zambia, unbeaten in 11 matches since the annual championship was launched two years ago, fell behind when Phiri erred and helped a seemingly-harmless Pinto Barros cross to slip into the net.
Chitila fired a free-kick just over and Zambia struck the woodwork twice before Siame found space inside the penalty area to turn and shoot past goalkeeper Luis Dias. Mozambique should have added a second goal just before the equaliser when an offside trap was sprung and Jose Elvino raced clear only to lose control and Phiri parried his feeble shot.–AFP
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