54 Comments on "Bonetti’s era starts with a bang!…as Chipolopolo hits a four star"

yelnatt on Sun, 5th Sep 2010 6:33 PM 



We cud v scord mo.nice game tho.ths s by far the best team zambia has asembled in yearz.

Uncle Bobs on Sun, 5th Sep 2010 6:40 PM 



Looking at the scorers justifies my call for culling some of the old guards (Chris, Chansa, Kampamba etc) and moving forward nabaiche. Frontline line/midfield should only have the likes of Kalaba (has to avoid the Mbesuma/Emmanuel Zulu bug), Mayuka, Fwayo and Jacob should be made captain. Even these same youn ones should not be made comfortable as no one is indispensable as players like Jackson Mwanza of Zesco can match any of the current players mu squad. Thumbs up Ba Zambia albeit Comoros bein amapulanga. Libya got a good result in Mozambique which hasnt been a good hunting ground for many African teams (remember Tunisia missed out on SA2010 here!)

MSHANI on Sun, 5th Sep 2010 6:44 PM 



GOOD START!! LOVED THE FWAYO GOAL!!…..BONNETI LOOKED DISSAPOINTED!!! LETS FOCUS ON LIBYA WITH SAME TEAM!!……CHIPOLOPOLO!!!

MWELWA PHIRI on Sun, 5th Sep 2010 7:03 PM 



4-0 Gr8 result…FWAYO TEMBO… MAN OF THE MATCH.go Zambia go

Whisper on Sun, 5th Sep 2010 7:06 PM 



Guys, can those who witnessed first hand please give us your player ratings with comments.

Jojo on Sun, 5th Sep 2010 7:11 PM 



Good result though comoros are a poor team,i thought noah chivuta had a good game in the middle of the pack,his positioning and ball distribution were very good,fwayo and mayuka’s goals will give them more confidence in future,they are now an intergral part of our squad,it was good to see sakuwaha after a while,i think he will be bonetti’s “super sub” because he brings a different dimension to our attack,he is tall,pacy,skilful and can play anywhere across the front..bonetti is really spoilt for choice because if you looked at our bench,anyone of those would have slotted in perfectly in the starting eleven,and of course we have jacob mulenga to come..overall very good result..dario bonetti and his italian contingent have hit the ground sprinting…

Monk Police on Sun, 5th Sep 2010 7:21 PM 



@ JOJO
Good start, yes Comoros is a poor teamlike you put, but there were times when Zambia even failed to beat small teams convincingly under HR. So thumbs up to Bonetti, he also seems mature and serious with what he is doing.
How did Chansa play?

Chikchap on Sun, 5th Sep 2010 7:43 PM 



For now wel done DB and wel done chipolopolo boys

Sibs on Sun, 5th Sep 2010 7:46 PM 



Gentlemen we need to ask ourselves when was the last time we beat a team 4-0 in a competitve match? Chad a few years ago when Mbesuma was firing all cylinders 0-0 at home, Swaziland we needed a penalty at home. South Africa, Nigeria were all playing weak teams at home only managed 2 goals watched both games. When we win some chaps complain when we loose you still complain ! What more do you want yes we could have scored more goals but 4-0 for me is good.

Sibs on Sun, 5th Sep 2010 8:02 PM 



@ Monk Police i totally agree with you.

Anonymous on Sun, 5th Sep 2010 8:10 PM 



Mwaumfwa bwino.but me i celebrate after we av played libya and mozambique first round

Abena mazi on Sun, 5th Sep 2010 8:16 PM 



gud display by da lads tho kalaba lacked match fitness. In my opinion, i feel hr is beta than bonetti tactically

Abena mazi on Sun, 5th Sep 2010 8:17 PM 



gud display by da lads tho kalaba lacked match fitness. In my opinion, i feel hr is beta than bonetti tactically.

Anonymous on Sun, 5th Sep 2010 8:44 PM 



I am very delighted with the result…4-0..wow..lets keep on with the same spirit against Libya..GO ZAMBIAAAAAAAA,,,

lee on Sun, 5th Sep 2010 8:52 PM 



The team looks to be destined to better things. Boneti need to utlise saku, fwayo, amayukwa well. In the middle we ar good too. The only let down today was chris katonga he is the one who shud have gone out instead of felix or fwayo

Fanatic on Sun, 5th Sep 2010 9:06 PM 



Wel done ba zambia, Mweene had the easiest day of hs carer 2day he came off da pitch as smart as he wen in.

JOHN on Sun, 5th Sep 2010 9:30 PM 



KALABA needs to be in EUROPE it’s not fair that this brilliant talent should be here it’s just not fair can his agents help him please

tHe bIg-sHaRp on Sun, 5th Sep 2010 10:12 PM 



Congratulations to the boys and to the technical bench. Ths is jst the begining, i think with seriousness and hard work, we can win all our six games in ths group. But people, its too early for these comparisons between HR and DB, ths is jst da first game for the Italian, lets wait and see as the games unfold. I realy love the way Fwayo plays, he showed why he is playing in the UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE. Any way, kipolopolo ni down.

Richie on Sun, 5th Sep 2010 11:00 PM 



This was a very special game for every player who played because they knew that DB was using it to come up with his best eleven and my observations were as follows:
Noah Chivuta worked very wel in shielding the back four and supporting the strikers,he was winning the loose balls and his distribution of the ball was very good ant he was very involved in the second goal.Out of 10,i would give him a 7.
Felix K,he will definetely be one of DB’s lieutenants,he showed his skills and a selfless attitude,he was a marvel to watch everytime he was on the ball,he was dropping where necessary to fight for possession or to restart the formular.He created the first goal for kalaba out of nothing,the way took on the defenders was world class,he gets 7.5.
Fwayo T was surely a thorn in the flesh for the opposition defence,his skill,pace and physique was too much for the islanders,the way he switched from one wing to the other was a total delight,he put the icing on the cake by scoring a pure uefa material goal,he gets 8.
All the four defenders will get 6.5,they didnt receive any real threat and they dealt well with the high balls which the islander goalkeeper kept on kicking.
Kalaba,unlike his friend mbola who has also not been playing since afcon,kalaba was somewhat out of the game,he was falling easily(low fitness),his free kicks were not like the “mupa” we know and i thought he was a bit slow on the ball but he showed that he still dribble and pass,he scored a beautiful goal and it was clear that he should get back to playing regular football.He gets 6.
Chris acounted wel for himself as the skipper and i think DB will maintain him,the man has got energy in his body,he was literary everywhere on the pitch and came close to scoring on two occasions,he gets a 7.
Chamanga had a good game also,i love the way he controlled the ball and his passing was good,he showed flashes of his ability to turn and get away from defenders and contributed a goal.He gets 6.5.
Mweene,i can not rate him because the man was a passenger throughout the game,i think he should have taken the latest book about Mwanawasa to keep himself busy cos the islanders where nowhere near his goal so he could have read most of the book,perhaps he will it in the return leg.
Chipolopolo 4 sure

ife ndife ba zambia on Sun, 5th Sep 2010 11:28 PM 



wat a game.egypt 1-1 sierra leon.full time

kalepa g on Sun, 5th Sep 2010 11:38 PM 



well done boys.

kk11 on Mon, 6th Sep 2010 5:27 AM 



I think some fans are just never happy regardless of what the team does. some just feel the need to criticize the team or individual players. we scored 4 an answered goals today and our margin of victory was the largest in these qualifiers and yet people still have a gripe with the team. suffice to say we did not play the worst team(according to the FIFA rankings) on the continent. Indulge me for a min:
Central african Republic is Ranked 52nd which is dead last and they drew away to Morocco which is ranked 18th. Egypt the best team on the continent were held to a draw at home by Sierra Leone who are ranked 36th on the continent. Egypt conceded a goal and had to come from behind!!! Liberia ranked 43 held Zimbabwe to a 1 all tie, algeria ranked 5th(a world cup participant) were held to another 1 all tie at HOME by the illustrious Taifa stars from Tanzania who ranked a respectable 27. South Africa only managed to put 2 goals past the giants from Niger who are ranked an amazing 39th. Nigeria put a measly 2 goals past Madagascar who are ranked 41st and those world beaters from GUINEA BISSAU ranked 50th beat Perennial contenders Kenya 1-0. what do these results inform me? the good teams will handle there business be it on the road or at home, Ghana, Cameroon, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Nigeria,Zambia!
We scored the goals we had too and the boys had fun and we scored 4 goals! yes they missed chances but that is fine, plus we did not have our best striker on hand. The mission today was to win and have the correct mindset which we did. So look at some of the shocking results on the continent and then look at ur own chipolopolo and be proud that they did not dissapoint or embarass like some national teams. For those beating up on Billy and the so called older veterans i say let the coach be the coach and fans be the fans. After all only the players and coach are privy to the goings on in camp. i think the score line is a just reflection of the talent disparity btwn the two teams. Now onto Libya and the real test for Bonetti………

yelnatt on Mon, 6th Sep 2010 5:29 AM 



At 1 point i saw mweene teling chintu 2 give chance 2 comoros so that they cn atleast shoot pa goal..dd any1 c that?

zimandola chipoya on Mon, 6th Sep 2010 7:06 AM 



This is the team to watch.

Caspian on Mon, 6th Sep 2010 7:32 AM 



@kk 11 i agree with yo analysis 100%, am jst showing wekmates who are ever criticizers.

connie on Mon, 6th Sep 2010 8:06 AM 



I was so impressed with the guys yesterday, they did not really take Comoros as Under Dogs and they played the game as if they where playing South Africa. Thank God we have some who can see the Player we have in Fwayo Tembo… Go Zambia.

Anonymous on Mon, 6th Sep 2010 8:11 AM 



@ yelnatt you have made me laugh– i saw the talking betwwen Mweene and Chintu – for sure Mweene looked bored. @ KK 11 you are very very right. nowadays there are no small teams in football. I for one enjoyed the flow of game – the skill, the pace and passes-which shows we have a good team. what ever score line people wanted 4 – 0 is huge. with a 3- 0 at half time the best to do was to avoid unnecessary injuries and yelow cards—which they did very well-we had no injuries nor any cards. thats football.

Gerogia Russia on Mon, 6th Sep 2010 8:15 AM 



it was a good game and we picked up 3 points which is important,,,keep it up guys

yelnatt on Mon, 6th Sep 2010 8:41 AM 



M so hapy 2b zambian mwe

ROK on Mon, 6th Sep 2010 8:43 AM 



Good result for Zambia though i feel they should have turned the game into a fully-fledged scoring training session instead of just toying the hapless lads around. I am unable to make a meaningful assessment because Comoro simply failed to test our team. It was a one way traffic.

ba Zambia on Mon, 6th Sep 2010 9:03 AM 



if anyone has the number to Kennedy Mweene pliz tell him to consider his winning bonus to charity because he never worked for it yesterday….alelofwa hahahahhaha LOL. Nice game ba chipolopolo

Bwana on Mon, 6th Sep 2010 9:15 AM 



Congratulations to the Chipolopolo.What is important is the three points,the score line comes next though i must mention that i feel our grouped may be determined by how many goals one team scores against the comoros.Fantastic Job,Congrats to the boys once again. The Comoros are believed to be the weeping Boys of the group and thus it can be argued to say our game was like a HOT knife on a tablet of BUTTER,therefore we could have scored even more.not to say that the four goals are not good,but may be not good enough(considering that the group may be determined by how many you score against the comoros).

The general player analysis: Most, if not all the player lacked match fitness.this could be attributed the fact that the leagues where most of our players are have just started,except for clubless ones like Noah Chivuta,Kalaba and Mbola(these should find clubs or else it will be difficult for them to attain full match fitness).

Individual Player Analysis : Back Four plus Goalkeeper. I may not give a fair rating on these players because they where not in the game.the islanders barely entered the zambias penalty box.These guys where practically on holiday. NOAH CHIVUTA. tasked to anchor the back four,in my opinion,he was zambias weakest link.he was involved in Fwayos goal but i think is one area that DB should really work on-We need a holding midfielder.we should pray that newly discovered Thomas Nyirenda recovers quickly from injury-He performed in Angola.. CHRIS KATONGO.you all saw it for yourselves,a match against the comoros is one where everyone is suppose to shine.Did you see Chris?where was he?apart from the pin point cross to chamanga for the third goal,i think it is either age is cathing up or maybe he was played out of position(i think the former is true). KALABA arguably Zambias most talented player (save for discipline).He had a very good game but really lacked match fitness. FELIX Excellent play but got tired. FWAYO(Galactico,Gujumbula Mbuzi) showed good physique,good skills.good hope for continuity.i think he should work on his movement off the ball and he should not go beyond his current weight,otherwise good game.We should also pray that he should leave for switzerland,latest tuesday otherwise the Mtendere fever will get hold of him and we may soon forget about him. CHAMANGA Good game.it will now be difficult to pick two strikers from the TOP performing TRIO of Jacob,Fwayo and Chamanga.

THE SUBSTITUTIONS. The players who came in where okey,Jonas,Mayuka and Isaac.but not the players who went out.i think Chivuta should have given room for Chansa,Chris for Jonas and Chamanga for Mayuka. Go Chipolopolo GO

isaac malukutu on Mon, 6th Sep 2010 9:17 AM 



kalaba needs to find an team urgently or else he wiill phaseout very quickly.Faz should help him play for Zesco as a guestplayer.Congrats chipolopolo

Asilikale on Mon, 6th Sep 2010 9:22 AM 



4-0 bt not gud 4any zambian coach ,if i was bonnet i wudnt smile coz hope 4the future is hanging in doubts otherwise he has to call back all the profesionals again and assess them in frndlies b4 the nxt qualifier match ,back to square 1 ,i was nt convinced with chipolopolo display anyway, bt congrats 4the win .
Its too early to compare Herve Renard to Bonnet,lets wait and watch .

Sibs on Mon, 6th Sep 2010 9:46 AM 



@KK11 You took all my words out of my mouth. Strange that all Mahgreb teams drew their games. Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria all failed to win at home. Only Libya played away from home. I have to say that Libya got a good result in Maputo. Mozambique have been difficult to crack at home. During the last W.C & Can qualifiersTunisia lost in Maputo and Nigeria drew there. Nigeria were saved by the ref who disallowed a genuine Mamba goal.

It’s still early days i’m sure any coach wouldn’t mind to start with 4-0 in his first competitive game. With Jacob back, we can do well against Libya who are not a bad side. Arabs are difficult to play at home.

Mabbwana on Mon, 6th Sep 2010 9:51 AM 



Great job by DB and his team. We have played weak opposition and failed to shine before. Remember Togo at Konkola, Swaziland both home and away. Finally we are able to create alot of and score goals.

The back four were on holiday and difficult to give a fair analysis.

I liked the vision and passing Noah showed through out the whole game. He did come out natural for me in that role he played save for the high energy and all round running around he showed trying to get himself in the gaps. DB should find another player for this position like a colleague has already mentioned. He seemed more composed in the second half though.

Felix was brilliant, providing to assists for Kalaba’s and Fwayo’s goal. He showed what game time can do to a player as I thought he had a much more improved performance compared to AFCON, but he is yet to get to top notch levels. He will remain an asset in the team.

Like many argued before the game, the lack of game time showed in this boy. He scored an excellent goal by any standard. Accurate placement. He made it look easy because of his brilliant execution. Unfortunately we kept waiting for this gem to shine and it didn’t. He didn’t even give any driving run in the box like he did at the AFCON when he would take on defenders. I can hardly remember a thunderous shot from him on goal. He was just not his usual self. He needs to find a club now.

Chris raised his game a notch higher. He showed more confidence running at defenders with a lot of enthusiasm. But I am no longer too sure he is fitting in this team. Captain??? I wouldn’t be surprised if he lost his starting place.

Fwayo and Chamanga were a damn good combination. Chamanga showed instincts of a target man. He positioned himself well, was a handful for the defenders in the box and some how his even show great skill in turning towards goal even when under pressure with defenders on his back. Fwayo is my GALACTICO. He showed great skill and should have had 3 goals save for the woodwork and the other he fluffed in the box when he tried to go for the spectacular.

Like someone has said already, DB is spoilt for choice in front of goal.

For the subs, Chansa showed good passing and movement, he could still have done well starting ahead of Kalaba. Mayuka, not much, but good goal. But the best of the subs was Jonas. He dazzled the opponents with great skill and pace. I think he game seems to have improved. He played with a rare calmness which would make one think he was under no pressure. He made good use of almost all the balls he was given. He was the only player seemed to want to stretch that defence wide but still cut in when he wanted. Very impressive for me.

In all a great team effort.

Sibs on Mon, 6th Sep 2010 9:58 AM 



@ Richie and Bwana thanks for in depth data on the game plus analysis. It looks like all have come out praising Fwayo (Gunjumbula Mbuzi) for having an outstanding game. Though Bwana you made me laugh with your comments that Fwayo should leave latest Tuesday for Switzerland otherwise Mtendere fever……… !!

Big Steve from SA on Mon, 6th Sep 2010 10:00 AM 



Eish my voice has just come back . Blowing a vuvuzela can take the wind out of you. This was a great result. So our clubless boys still have fire in them even after such a long absence from active football. I see a lot of coments on Kalaba but not any on Mbola. How was his game?? guys that got to watch the game. So our two stars in europe both got on the scorers board, that was just amazing.

Michael a.k.a myquo carrick on Mon, 6th Sep 2010 10:03 AM 



I think fwayo was taken out due to his injury concerns,kalaba got tired due to lack of match fittnes,en as for felix i think it ws js to give room for da technical bench to asses jonas.noah had a good game frm my point of view,hez da only one who switchd play effectively in da team.he cn use both legs to a good effect.

Sharp Razor on Mon, 6th Sep 2010 10:56 AM 



@ Bwana Good analysis. Gujumbula mbuzi!!!

th byson on Mon, 6th Sep 2010 11:20 AM 



i am one for the idea that chivuta should have not started his ball control is poor if it was a real high pressure game he wouls messed up chansa and kalaba in the middle sakuwaha and Jacob in front chamanga was equally useless

DaMwiinger on Mon, 6th Sep 2010 11:35 AM 



Well done to the lads!!!

Robinson chelsea on Mon, 6th Sep 2010 11:51 AM 



Go chipolopolo go,fwayo rocks,chivuta suck.

Magic on Mon, 6th Sep 2010 11:59 AM 



I like DB’s use of his subs bench. Timely, appropriate and effective.  It seems like he is more tactically astute than HR. Eish, I was a big HR fan but with results like these I will sing your name DB. 

Ice Cold on Mon, 6th Sep 2010 12:51 PM 



@Bwana, I agree with you 100%. I also think we should have scored more taking into account the caliber of the team that Zambia played. True the three points obtained was excellent knowing the outcome in Maputo.And also as some have mentioned we managed to score not just one but 4 aganist the background of having qualified to Afri Con with a miracle two goals under HR!!!!. I guess when you are playing a team with no system like we did makes it difficult as far as employing tactic is concerned. Personally, I think Zambia plays better against stronger opposition. On Chris I agree too. He is strong no doubt but tactically not that briliant especially when it come to scoring, of course not forgetting 3 – 1 score line againist RSA. Maybe he should be deployed in a position where he is not going to shoot at goal but let natural strikers finish. I saw one instance were he engineered a scoring chance and beautifully ran into space to score. He kicked using a wrong foot(right)instead of left. Clean chance! He is a good player but we should look for a replacement. Kalaba is ever great can someone help the camp and the other clubless to find a club why let all that skill go to waste!! I wish I could!! Nyirenda should come back to take his place. We missed him there. I wouldnt like to comment about the perfomance of the team right now. it is premature to do so just by watching them thrash Comoros. All I saw was that we were able to get goals.but was it because of weak defence of Comoros?? Our back five mweene included were just there to complete the number but not to do the job they were called for. Other wise it is a good start and a good team. I will assess them when we play Mozabique. Ba Zambia! Iyeeeee, Chipolopolo!

Allan on Mon, 6th Sep 2010 2:57 PM 



Excellent performance by Zambia.Fwayo Tembo was the stand out  player for Zambia.the change of jersey and venue played a huge part as well. The players looked smart.It’s been long since Zambia beat a team by 4 goals in a competitive match.Bonnet looks more mature than that Renard.Renard never convinced me. He was like a tourist and i knew he was not going to last.

Marvin on Mon, 6th Sep 2010 3:16 PM 



Congrats to Chipolopolo! But the team still needs efficiency and that means converting chances into goals. Yes 4 nil is ok but if a team has 24 shots at goal and converts only 4 that is a poor ratio. So the technical bench must work on accuracy.
Chris needs composure otherwise he will lose his place in this competitive team. Chamanga scored but he sometimes fluffed with the ball and easily lost the ball or let the ball roll away when he could have converted.
We still need more quality to dispatch stronger teams.

Ba Mwanza on Mon, 6th Sep 2010 4:01 PM 



Thanks ba Zed? those of you who watched the game, how was chansa and chintu played?
Please tell us

ZIFE on Mon, 6th Sep 2010 4:55 PM 



some pipo you just talk without reasoning. when are you going to appreciate us huh? we win you say -ve we lose same who are you then? come on you only have 1 zambia be patriotic for once and grow up.

Anonymous on Mon, 6th Sep 2010 6:11 PM 



Go zambia Go 4 life

yamishi on Mon, 6th Sep 2010 6:13 PM 



Go zambia Go 4 life

kuku on Mon, 6th Sep 2010 7:12 PM 



Nalishibe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

chamz on Tue, 7th Sep 2010 9:33 AM 



U guys never cease to amaze me, now the clubless Kalaba is a hero? U r the ones who where saying he should be dropped? Like Fwayo, I am sure a lot of people will eat humble pie.

Positive thinking ..aka Awe on Tue, 7th Sep 2010 6:13 PM 



@Chamz… lol… funny how fans can change their minds so quickly. The day Kalaba wears a Zambian uniform and does badly you will see how many will put him down again. I for one still believe that Kalaba needs some intervention to get him playing again, and I will never agree with how he handled the Zamalek thing..ever