Unlucky Zambia lose Africa Cup warm-up

African champions Zambia were foiled twice by the woodwork as a second-half comeback away to Tanzania this weekend failed to prevent a 1-0 Cup of Nations Cup warm-up loss.

Impressive substitute Mukuka Mulenga and Felix Katongo struck the post in Dar es Salaam after Mrisho Ngassa had put the home team into the lead on the stroke of half-time at the National Stadium.

Ngassa, who fired five goals against Somalia in a recent regional tournament, outpaced Kampamba Chintu and rounded goalkeeper Daniel Munyau to earn victory for a team 96 places below Zambia on the FIFA world rankings.

Several Zambians, including usually inspirational captain and 2012 BBC African Footballer of the Year Christopher Katongo, were below par and coach Herve Renard made numerous second-half changes.

Stoppila Sunzu, scorer of the decisive penalty when Zambia upset favourites Ivory Coast last February to lift the Cup of Nations for the first time, made a big difference in defence when he came on.

Zambia have four more friendlies lined up before starting to defend the title on January 21 with a Group C clash against Ethiopia in north-eastern South African city Nelspruit.

Chipolopolo (The Copper Bullets) face Swaziland in Nelspruit on January 5, Morocco in Johannesburg three days later, Norway in Ndola on January 12 and return to Nelspruit for a January 15 date with Namibia.

Nigeria, shock absentees from the 2012 Cup of Nations, and Burkina Faso are the other Group C contenders and the Super Eagles and Zambia are expected to fill the top two places on the final table and reach the quarter-finals.

Angola completed a three-match build-up this month by defeating Rwanda 1-0 thanks to a Mingo Bille goal before a large crowd at Estadio 11 de Novembro in Luanda that included President Jose Eduardo dos Santos.