After a delay of more than an hour thanks to torrential rains in Equatorial Guinea, Libya and Zambia played out an odd little game on what was basically a flooded mudbath. The ball barely moved along the ground, making the whole affair seem somewhat farcical, but the two sides battled hard nonetheless and managed to turn what could have been a really awful match of football into something that very much approached fun.
Libya Vs. Zambia, 2012 Africa Cup Of Nations: 2-2 Draw On Waterlogged Pitch
Unfancied Libya struck first. After Zambia defence was ripped open by a through ball from Walid El Khatroushi, Ahmed Saad latched onto the pass and slipped a shot past Kennedy Mweene. The match was just five minutes old. Despite going behind, Zambia looked the birhgter side and were able to level just before the half hour mark, Emmanuel Mayuka doing extremely well to volley a long pass over his shoulder into the back of the net from a difficult angle.
Libya were perhaps lucky to go into the break level - Zambia were the better side but were being slowed down badly by the awful state of the pitch, so it was odd to see them score straight from the restart. A pass into the Zambia box ended up going to Ahmed Saad and the striker took a few touches before lifting his shot over Mweene and into the back of the net for his brace. The match wouldn’t stay level long, however, as an excellent cross and header combination by Mayuko and Christopher Katongo saw the latter nod home at the far post with Samir Aboud helpless.
There were plenty of chances for both sides to win it as the game wound down - and Zambia should almost certainly have had a penalty in their last kick of the match - but ultimately neither team could force the ball in, and we ended up with our first draw of the tournament at 2-2.
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