Rangers forward Fashion Sakala was handed a rare start this season by international side Zambia – before the match away to Mali was controversially abandoned due to the weather.
Ibrox attacker Fashion, 25, has found game time hard to come by in Glasgow this season and might’ve even been out the door this summer amid links to Ligue 1 and La Liga.
But the forward has stuck around in Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s squad and will have been hoping to use his time away with Zambia to stake a claim for more minutes at Rangers this season.
So far this campaign, the attacker has only played 101 minutes across three matches this season, with 88 of them coming in the 3-1 League Cup win over Queen of the South.
It’s been an unconvincing start to the season for Fashion Sakala and Rangers at times and things still haven’t quite got off the ground for the attacker after his latest outing with Zambia.
Fashion Sakala starts before Zambia clash called off
Fashion Sakala started for the Chipolopolo as they fell to a 1-0 defeat to Mali earlier in the international break and as the two sides started to face off again the match was abandoned.
As reported by local outlet Zambian Football, the clash between Zambia and Mali at Bamako’s Stade Du 26 Mars Stadium was called off after only 15 minutes.
This was after a heavy downpour made the pitch unplayable with Fashion Sakala surely left frustrated by the situation as he aims to get up and running for the campaign.
Rangers signed Sakala on a pre-contract deal from Belgian outfit KV Oostende last summer and the forward did make a solid impression in his first season with the Light Blues.
Whilst Fashion never quite found an appropriate level of consistency, the attacker’s return for a first campaign was impressive with the ex-Spartak man netting 12 goals and laying on 7 assists, averaging a goal contribution every 115 or so minutes.
Fashion Sakala has made 19 appearances for the Zambia national team, netting six goals.
Meanwhile, here are the three former Rangers players who’ve lifted the World Cup.