A late Patson Daka header rescued a 1-1 draw for 10-man Zambia against Tanzania on Sunday to deny the Taifa Stars a first ever TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations win.The Taifa Stars took a deserved first-half lead through Simon Msuva’s 11th-minute strike assisted by Mbwana Samatta.
But Zambia’s task grew harder when captain Roderick Kabwe received a second yellow card just before the break to leave them a man down.
Despite their numerical disadvantage, Chipolopolo fought back valiantly in San-Pedro as Patson Daka went close after the restart.
And the Leicester striker finally made his mark by heading in the 88th-minute equaliser with an inch-perfect corner from Clatous Chama.
The late twist means Tanzania are still searching for an elusive first AFCON victory after eight attempts.
The draw leaves Tanzania bottom of Group F ahead of their final game with DR Congo while Zambia stay third.
Zambia likely require victory over Morocco on Tuesday to progress to the knockouts after this dramatic stalemate.
MATCH FACTS:
● Zambia have not won any of their last eight group stage games at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations (D7 L1 – in 2013, 2015 and this year), after winning three of their previous four such encounters in the competition (D1).
● Tanzania have registered an Expected Goal value of only 0.21 against Zambia today, the third lowest tally in the same 2023 CAF Africa Cup of Nations game, behind… Zambia v Congo DR (0.20) and Tanzania themselves against Morocco (0.03).
● Simon Msuva has scored two of Tanzania’s last three goals at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations (v Kenya in June 2019 and v Zambia today). The forward is the first Tanzanian player to find the net in different AFCON editions (1 goal in 2019, 1 goal this year).
● Patson Daka has become the first player from Zambia to score a goal (today v Tanzania) and deliver an assist (on 17 January v Congo DR) at the same CAF Africa Cup of Nations edition since Christopher Katongo (3 goals, 1 assist), Rainford Kalaba (1 goal, 2 assists) and Stoppila Sunzu (also 1 goal, 1 assist) in 2012.
● Simon Msuva and Mbwana Samatta have been involved in Tanzania’s last three goals scored at the Africa Cup of Nations, between 2019 (1 goal for Msuva, 1 goal for Samatta) and this year’s edition (also 1 goal for Msuva, 1 assist for Samatta).
● Roderick Kabwe has conceded the first red card for Zambia at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations since Opta began to collect these data (2010). Zambia and Tanzania are two of the four teams which have received a red card at this AFCON 2023 (with Gambia and Guinea).