Just to give you an idea of how potent Zesco United’s attack is, the Zambian side’s top goalscorer in the CAF Champions League, Idris Mbombo, started on the bench in Ndola while their creative spark, Clatous Chama, was suspended.
Yet they troubled Mamelodi Sundowns’ fullbacks while exposing the lack of pace in the central defensive pairing of Thabo Nthethe and Wayne Arendse.
Mbombo and Chama, along with Jackson Mwanza and Jesse Were up front with Kondwani Mtonga and Misheck Chaila on the flanks, form part of the finest attack in the group stage of this year’s Champions League to finish with 10 goals.
They achieved that because of what coach Pitso Mosimane calls an ‘awkward attack’. They push four players - the two wingers and two strikers - down their opponents’ throats to choke them with pressure while the central midfield pairing arrive late to pounce on any loose balls.
Sundowns will need to douse that fire if they are to book a place in the final of the Champions League when they face Zesco today at Lucas Moripe Stadium (7pm).
The Brazilians must overturn a 2-1 defeat from the first leg. Even though Zesco come into this match with a lead, they won't sit back with Mwanza, who scored those two goals, leading the attack.
“We need to score,” Mwanza said.
“We won't sit back and say that we have scored two goals already, so we can relax. If we relax, we will allow them to come at us and beat us in their own backyard. It's not in our nature to sit back, regardless of the opponents we are playing.
“We will go there looking for a goal and a win because we are this close to being in the final. We believe we can score. We have a good attack. We need to get into the final. To do that we must score.”
Mwanza, the 2014 Zambian Premier League top scorer, comes into this match on the back of being named in the Chipolopolo squad to take on Nigeria in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers next month.
Zambia, like Bafana Bafana, missed out on qualifying for next year's Africa Cup of Nations which means that success from one of these two clubs on the continent would wash away that disappointment.
If Zesco are to do that, they have to rely on their attack because their defence is porous. The Brazilians will be looking to exploit it with their slick moves.
“We know Sundowns,” Mwanza said.
“We have played against them a number of times in friendlies. We know how they play and how they run on the pitch. They are a very good team. They are strong.”
Zesco were regarded as the weak link in Group A when the draw was conducted. Despite that, the Zambian side stunned Al-Ahly and Asec Mimosas to finish above them and second to Morocco’s Wydad Casablanca.
“Zesco is a small team,” Mwanza, the club's all-time leading goalscorer, said.
“Everyone underrate us. It's up to us as players to put in our best and prove people wrong. That's why we have been scoring goals and doing well. When they do that, they push us. We are driven to make people eat their words.”
Goalkeepers
Jacob Banda (c), Lameck Nyangu and Brown Nyirenda.
Defenders
Ben Adama Banh, David Owino Odhiambo, Simon Silwimba, Daut Musekwa, Bernard Mapili and Ayo Oluwafemi
Midfielders
Anthony Akumu Agay, Misheck Chaila, Clatous Chama, John Chingandu, Kondwani Mtonga, Maybin Mwaba and Mwelwa Mwape
Strikers
Jesse Were, Jackson Mwanza, Idris Mbombo and Lazarous Kambole
Saturday Star