{"id":21550,"date":"2025-12-23T08:55:57","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T06:55:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers\/channelafrica\/news\/dakas-last-minute-strike-earns-zambia-draw-with-mali-in-afcon-opener\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:32:35","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:32:35","slug":"dakas-last-minute-strike-earns-zambia-draw-with-mali-in-afcon-opener","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/dakas-last-minute-strike-earns-zambia-draw-with-mali-in-afcon-opener\/","title":{"rendered":"Daka\u2019s last-minute strike earns Zambia draw with Mali in AFCON opener"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Zambia snatched a dramatic 1-1 draw against Mali in their Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) opener at Casablanca\u2019s Mohammed V Stadium on Monday, with Patson Daka scoring in stoppage time.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Mali had seemed on course for victory after Lassina Sinayoko gave them the lead shortly after the hour mark. But Zambia\u2019s relentless pressure paid off late in the game, with Daka finding the net to level the scores.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The encounter was closely contested, as both sides adjusted to the pace and intensity of the tournament.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>With Morocco having beaten Comoros 2-0 on Sunday, Zambia and Mali now sit behind the tournament hosts at the top of Group A.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":21551,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-21550","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Zambia snatched a dramatic 1-1 draw against Mali in their Africa Cup of Nations","published_date":"2025-12-23 10:49:37","news_description":"Zambia snatched a dramatic 1-1 draw against Mali in their Africa Cup of Nations","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/21550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/21550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25177,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/21550\/revisions\/25177"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=21550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}