Lesotho 1 - Zambia ; Ghana 4 - Sudan 0

Zambia came strolling into town to take on Lesotho in Maseru.  Lesotho seemed to be more up for the occasion, and they had various chances to put their homefield advantage to use, but to no avail.  The first half ended scoreless.

After some lax defending by Stopphila Sunzu, Lesotho's Litsepe Marabe was behind the Zambian defense.  All-world goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene was sent off in minute 52 after having no choice but to bring down Marabe, leaving the Chipolopolo to cope with ten men on the road.  Collins Mbesuma (pictured, orange #9) put the short-handed Chipolopolo on his back and nearly willed them to victory on his own.  In addition to providing Zambia with the opening goal with under twenty minutes left to play, he also saw a header of his crash agonizingly off a post.  Eventually, Lesotho made the extra man count, however, with an equalizer in the penultimate minute from Marabe proving a body blow to Zambia.  The match ends in a 1-1 draw.

Ghana looked to pounce upon Zambia's slip-up with a win at home in Kumasi against Sudan.  A free kick opportunity led to the first goal after some questionable defending by Sudan in their own penalty area.  The free kick swung wide and was headed across the box.  A Ghanaian header was whiffed, but the attempt threw off the timing of the Sudan goalkeeper, whose swing-and-a-miss allowed Asamoah Gyan to tap in the first goal of the day.  Gyan stole a ball twenty minutes later and gave it up to Harrison Afful on the right flank.  Afful played a deep cross back to the half circle from where Wakaso Mubarak blasted a half-volley away for another goal for the Black Stars.  Ghana led 2-0 at intermission.

Sudan's poor marking continued, with the worst offense coming with only ten minutes to go in the match.  A Solomon Asante cross was struck well toward Abdul Majeed Waris, but two Sudan defenders sandwiched him in the box.  Neither defender jumped, so Waris rose up and connected with a strong header from the penalty spot to make it 3-0.  A long through ball caught up the Sudanese five minutes later, and Waris unselfishly passed across the box on a two-on-one breakaway for the easy tap-in goal by Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu.  Ghana win 4-0.

Zambia 7 pts +4
Ghana 6 pts +10
Lesotho 2 pts -7
Sudan 1 pts -7

Goals
Zambia
Collins Mbesuma 73

Lesotho
Litsepe Marabe 89

Ghana
Asamoah Gyan 19
Wakaso Mubarak 38
Abdul Majeed Waris 79
Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu 84

Match Reports:
http://allafrica.com/stories/201303251492.html
http://bolazambia.com/en/?p=881
http://graphic.com.gh/Sports-News/ghana-whitewash-the-sudan.html
http://edition.radioxyzonline.com/pages/sports/03242013-1756/10889.stm

Highlights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgCMYyxagAY (Ghana v. Sudan)

Full Match Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3tuZHdj9Fk (Ghana v. Sudan)