By Dennis Mabuka
After suffering back-to-back defeats, Zambia’s national team will face the exit door from the TotalEnergies CAF African Nations Championship (CHAN) if they fail to defeat Morocco in their third Group ‘A’ fixture at Nyayo National Stadium on Thursday.
The “Chipolopolo” (‘Copper Bullets’) under the tutelage of former Chelsea and Portsmouth coach Avram Grant, kicked off their campaign with a 2-0 defeat against two-time CHAN champions DR Congo before losing 2-1 against Angola.
Zambia are currently sitting bottom of the five team group without a point and defeat against the Atlas Lions, who are placed fourth with three points following their 1-0 defeat against Kenya, will end their campaign in the CHAN tournament being co-hosted by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
Grant refuses to throw in the towel
Despite the situation they find themselves in, Grant has refused to throw in the towel insisting Zambia can still pull a miracle and reach the knockout stages.
He expressed confidence that the squad will deliver a much better showing.
“It has been a bad start, not a start that we could have wanted to have, but we will head into the Morocco game knowing we still have two matches to play, which can give us six points, anything can happen because this is football,” Grant told reporters ahead of the game.
“This is a new team. We are improving with every game,” Grant said, adding that the players are gaining valuable experience that will translate into stronger performances.
Grant further admitted they have been unlucky in their opening two games: “In our last game against Angola, I think we played much better than the first game. We created six clear chances, as I saw. We scored one.
“Then we were winning one-nil and a few individual mistakes cost us, but the players tried their best. This is football when you miss so many chances.”
He added: “Our first game was not good enough, but we had a great improvement in the second game despite defeat, now we want to have an improved performance against Morocco and get the first win in the tournament.”
In a separate interview, Zambia goalkeeper Francis Mwansa explained why the remaining two matches against Morocco and Kenya will be tough. “It’s difficult for us, especially because we lost the two games, because the game against Morocco is a tough game. They will come hard at us, wanting to beat us,” said the Zanaco FC custodian.
“The remaining two games are not easy; Kenya are highly motivated and Morocco are a strong side. We really need to put in our best and fight for a positive result by all means. But we have hope that we will win the two matches.”
Morocco aim to bounce back
For Morocco coach Tarik Sektioui, his immediate task is to bounce back from the defeat against 10-man Kenya, which ended their unbeaten CHAN record.
“We have to bounce back, we have put everything about the Kenya game behind us, and we now want to go out there and win to stay in contention,” Sektioui told reporters.
Against Kenya, Morocco, who opened their campaign with a 2-0 victory against Angola and arrived on a 14-match unbeaten CHAN run, were made to look ordinary by a disciplined, combative home team roared on by a packed crowd.
The two teams have faced each other 20 times in the past.
The “Atlas Lions” have won 12 matches, while Zambia have claimed victory six times. The remaining two encounters ended in a draw.
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