The Zambia under-17 national soccer team were eliminated from the 2007 Togo African Youth Championship finals after visiting Eritrea scooped a 2-0 victory in Lusaka on Saturday.

    Eritrea qualified 3-0 on aggregate to reach the finals in Togo after an earlier win against 1997 champion Egypt in the first round.

    The visitors shocked over 5,000 Zambian fans at Lusaka's Nkoloma Stadium when they scored barely three minutes in the game through Maleki Tesfay who finished off a Yosef Abraham cross.

    With 20 minutes to full time, Eritrean striker Yonatan Goitom finished off a rebound off Zambian goalkeeper Kelvin Musonda who failed to rise to collect the former's ricochet shot.

    "In Eritrea, we played a defensive game and we came here to score," Eritrea coach Dorian Marin was quoted by local newspaper Zambia Daily Mail as saying in a post match interview.

    "We achieved our aim and we are going to Togo to win the title," he added.

    Marin said Eritrea won the game because of playing a physical game while Zambia coach Wedson Nyirenda conceded that the Eritreas were more mature than his players.