Goalkeeper saves Zambia with late penalty

RUSTENBURG, South Africa: Zambia goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene, a noted penalty saving and taking specialist, scored from the spot to salvage a 1-1 draw against Nigeria here yesterday.
Mweene’s late heroics in this Africa Cup of Nations Group C clash canceled out Emmanuel Emenike’s goal with Nigeria’s John Obi Mikel failing to convert a first half penalty.
The stalemate left defending champions Zambia and Nigeria tied at the top of the mini-league, with Burkina Faso and Ethiopia playing later.
Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi made three changes.
In came Chelsea winger Victor Moses, making his Cup debut after missing the 1-1 draw with Burkina Faso with a hamstring injury.
Joining Moses were Lazio midfielder Ogenyi Onazi and Fegor Ogude.
Fenerbahce defender Joseph Yobo dropped to the bench after a late ankle injury, with goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama taking over his captain’s armband, Dynamo Kyiv striker Brown Ideye was also out, while Celtic defender Efe Ambrose was suspended. For Zambia, defender Emmanuel Mbola and Southampton striker Emmanuel Mayuka were called up for Hichani Himonde and Collins Mbesuma, the scorer in the 1-1 stalemate with Ethiopia.
Chisamba Lungu, who suffered an ankle injury when floored by Ethiopian goalkeeper Jemal Tassew, won his battle to be fit for this sixth Nations Cup meeting between the two sides.
For the Zambians this clash on the threadbare Mbombela Stadium pitch represented the chance to avenge defeats to Nigeria in Angola in 2010 and in the 1994 final, the last of Nigeria’s two titles.
Herve Renard’s men started ambitiously, but Nigeria’s defense held firm as the title-holders struggled to capitalize on all their possession.
On 25 minutes, Zambia had a lucky escape when defender Davies Nkausu felled Ahmed Musa in the box, with Egyptian referee Grisha Ghead pointing to the spot.
Mikel stepped up, but his far-from-vintage low effort went the wrong side of Mweene’s right post.
Zambia ended the first half as they’d begun it, on the attack, yet unable to land a sucker punch.
A more assured Nigeria emerged after the restart, and deservedly took a 57th-minute lead when Emenike raced on to Mikel’s neat through pass. He controlled the ball well before shooting low into the left hand corner of Mweene’s net.
The Spartak Moscow striker was doubling his tally in South Africa, having scored in Nigeria’s first game.
That sparked Renard to alter his line-up, Mbesuma and Mulenga Mukuka coming on for captain Christopher Katongo and Lungu. Soon after, Isaac Chansa came off for Jonas Sakuwaha as Renard strengthened his attack.
Mweene then saved Zambia’s day.
The ‘keeper, who regularly takes penalties for South Africa Premier League club Free State Stars and converted his effort in last year’s Nations Cup final shoot-out, coolly stepped up to slot home a spot kick awarded harshly when Onazi tangled with Mayuka in the box.
Niger holds Congo
Niger created Africa Cup of Nations history Thursday night by collecting their first point after drawing 0-0 with the Democratic Republic of Congo in a dull Group B game.
The west Africans ended a four-match point-less streak in the competition after losing all three group matches last year in Gabon, and also losing their opening match in this Indian Ocean city to Mali last weekend.
However, they remain bottom of the table with one point. Ghana are on top with four followed by Mali with three and DR Congo with two and all four teams have a chance of making the quarterfinals.
The final matches in this group are scheduled for Monday with Niger facing Ghana here and DR Congo taking on Mali in Durban.
“I never said we will take three points easily against Niger — that would have been disrespectful to our opponents,” said veteran DR Congo coach Claude Le Roy.
“We played a bad game tonight with many technical and tactical mistakes. It will be wonderful to play Mali although we know we have to win to survive.” Niger coach Gernot Rohr said: “With such great players from Niger, you can only be proud of them.
“I’m very happy we have made some kind of history by collecting our first Cup of Nations point. We have made some progress in this competition after losing all three matches in Gabon last year.”