By MUKWIMA CHILALA
The Zambia National Soccer Team has yet again been dumped of the Confederation of African Nations (CHAN) following their 3-1 quarter final defeat to defending champions Morocco.
Morocco started the match living up to their favorite tag while Zambia looked jittery from the first whistle leading to them conceeding in the first minute .
Morocco’s Sofiane Rahimi opened the scores in the first minute but was only confirmed after the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) decision was invoked.
Morocco doubled the lead in the sixth minute as Zambia continued to look jittery in defence.
The woes for Zambia could not have been worse as defender Zachariah Chilongoshi was in the 23 minute shown a red card for fouling Morrocan Ali.
It couldn’t have gotten any worse for Chipolopolo as the Morrocans were awarded a penalty in the 38′ minute after Paul Katema was adjudged to have handled the ball in the eighteen area.
Ayoub EL Kaabi converted from the spot to give the defending champions a three nil lead going into the second half.
Zambia’s coach Milutin Micho Sredejovic changed his formation going into second half withdrawing defenders for strikers as he brought on Moses Phiri for Kelvin Kapumbu in the 45 minute while Emmanuel Chabula later came on for Benson Sakala in the 54 minute.
With the match headed for a three nil win for Morocco, substitute Phiri scored for Zambia in the 84 minute to give the Chipolopolo a consolation.
It could however have been worse for Zambia but Morroco’s fourth goal was only denied by VAR for being adjudged to have been offside.
This is the third time Zambia are falling through at the quarter final stage after being ejected at the same level of the competition in 2016 and 2018.
