Rangers star Fashion Sakala tasted defeat in an important World Cup Qualifier as his long-awaited return to international football ended in disappointment.
Sakala hadn’t represented Zambia for some time before Thursday’s clash with Equatorial Guinea, after being excused from duty just prior to his summer move to Ibrox before pulling out of two Qualifiers in September due to injury.
Earlier this week, he expressed his excitement on Twitter ahead of a doubleheader against Nzalang Nacional, only for it to emerge that he would only be available for the first of the two matches due to not being fully vaccinated.
The doubleheader could be crucial in Zambia’s quest to reach Qatar 2022 as both sides came into this international block on three points, three behind Group B leaders Tunisia.
Keen to make use of the Rangers star while he was with the group, caretaker manager Beston Chambeshi handed him a start on Thursday in Malabo.
However, a red card for midfielder Prince Mumba in just the 25th minute made things extremely difficult for Chipolopolo.
It didn’t take long for the hosts to capitalise on their man advantage, either, with Saul Coco giving them the lead ten minutes later.
Chambeshi made a number of changes in an attempt to rescue a point, but Zambia eventually succumbed to a 2-0 defeat to a side ranked 46 places below them in the FIFA World Rankings, after Emilio Nsue had doubled the hosts’ advantage in the 87th minute.
The southern African nation will surely now need to win the reverse fixture in Lusaka to have a realistic chance of making the World Cup, but they will have to do so without Sakala.
In other news, a Rangers star couldn’t prevent his international team slipping to a shock hammering on Wednesday.
