The intense match between Zambia and Singapore ended day 5 of the Mission Foods Nations Cup 2016 with the undefeated Zambia team winning their 5th match with a score of 50 – 45.

In an electrifying start to the match, Singapore began with a lead that was soon caught up by Zambia. Even with the strong defence put up by Teo and Chen, Zambia’s Banda manages to score multiple goals. Despite Singapore’s midfielders strong coordination in addition to Zambia’s Bunga and Kaputeni, Zambia manages to win the first quarter with a score of 12 – 9.

In the second quarter, both teams remain unchanged. After the failed attempt of a goal point by Nakazwe, captain of Zambia, Singapore’s Soh and Liew scores two simultaneous goals. This was followed by the third goal by Soh. Zambia swiftly scores 4 goals in a row to take the lead in the first half of the quarter. Using a series of tight and long passes, Shina led the team into keeping the ball in Singapore’s possession, and eventually edging the first half with a score of 22 – 21.

Yu and Soh kick off the third quarter with the first two goals. The Zambia team manages to catch up but the Singapore team persevered on to keep an even score with numerous spectacular passes between the players. Both Yu and Soh displayed great precision in netting goals for the team. Despite Singapore’s efforts to win the quarter, Zambia manages to win the third quarter with a score of 36 – 34.

The match kept spectators at the edge of their seats in the final quarter. Zambia starts off with two consecutive goals. Chen of Singapore manages to block multiple scoring opportunities by their opponents, allowing the Singapore team even out the score for the quarter. With just 5 minutes left to the end, Zambia switches to their native aggressive style of game play which left Singapore with a wider deficit. In the final 40 seconds, Nurul successfully intercepts a pass which eventually gave Soh the opportunity to score the last goal for the match. Zambia emerged victorious for this match with a score of 50 – 45.

Head Coach of Team Zambia, Charles Zulu
“I told them if they keep making mistakes mid-court, they are not going to make the goal. I told them to push as the ball was not moving to the goal shooting area. I know Papua New Guinea is a strong team, they are good at attacks and defense. Depending on their gameplay tomorrow, we will have a plan for it. We must remain positive and we face whatever comes our way.”

Head Coach of Team Singapore, Ruth Atiken
“It’s really good to have all of our players out there and we have a well-connected four quarters. We had a few errors and hesitancies which Zambia took advantage of. Chen Lili did a good job of staying discipline and got us a lot of turnover balls. Josephine Yeo did a great job and her athleticism really showed through. Last year, Botswana beat us by 31 goals, but to go from 31 to 5 is a pretty good improvement with a lot of young players out there. While Botswana played with the same style (as Zambia), they are very quick. If we play with heart, patience and anything is possible.”

HIGHLIGHTS
· Top scorer of the match is Singapore’s Charmaine Soh of 88% accuracy
· Both Zambia and Singapore led in two quarters each

MATCH STATISTICS