Mon, 12 Jun 2017 10:50:59 +0000
….As Wada remains confident despite 1-0 disaster
By Michael Miyoba and Grace Chaile Lesoetsa
SOCCER fans in Lusaka have condemned the Zambia national soccer team for losing their first 2019 AfCON qualifier at home to Mozambique.
Zambia kicked off their 2019 Cameroon AfCON with a disastrous 1-0 loss to Mozambique at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Lusaka on Saturday.
Fans who watched in agony on televisions as the 2012 African champions struggled against Mozambique who outperformed them in all departments and put the icing on the case via a Stanley Ratifo’s 90th minute strike, took to social media to express their disappointment with Wedson Nyirenda’s squad.
Peter Emmanuel said, “Our national team is still resting. We don’t know those guys who were using our stadium against Mozambique.”
“All we want is an overhaul of the team. FAZ should be serious for once. It pains to lose. Making experiments every time? Aikhona man!” said Angela Michelle from Lusaka.
Benjamin Mbewe wrote; “With all due respect to our local coaches, I think none of them is ready to guide us to the top of African football. We were very poor tactically.”
“If FAZ does not hear the peoples calls for change and decide to go ahead with what they want, trust me we will miss out on the AfCON for the second time in a row,” said Idah Shabani, another soccer fan from Lusaka.
But national team coach Wedson ‘‘Wada’’ Nyirenda believes Zambia can still qualify for the Cameroon 2019 AfCON despite having started the qualifiers on a shaky note.
Speaking during a post-match interview after Zambia’s 1-0 loss to Mozambique at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola, Nyirenda said Zambia was not out of the race despite the loss.
He noted that there were a lot of games to be played in Group K which consists of Namibia, who lost 1-0 away to Guinea Bissau, in the other Group K fixture.
Nyirenda described Zambia’s loss to Mozambique as the most disappointing performance from the senior team.
“It is the most disappointing performance at home. I am so disappointed with how the boys played, they did not show any passion or sense of responsibility which is in the Under-20 or other teams,” he said.
He said the team may have gone down but they are not out; so Zambia can rise and qualify.
Nyirenda said he was still building a team and Zambians should expect changes to the squad.
“We will make changes to the team, and that is definite. There is about eight months in between before playing the second game, so there is enough time to prepare,” he said.
And the senior Chipolopolo, consisting of local players, is today scheduled to leave for Johannesburg ahead of their friendly match against South Africa tomorrow.
Nyirenda explained that the team will use the friendly to prepare for CHAN and COSAFA assignments.
“This team comprises of local players only simply because we will use the friendly to prepare for the CHAN qualifier match against Swazliand and the COSAFA tournament,” he said.
He said he will only release the Zesco players after the South Africa match.
“The Zesco players are playing this Tuesday and will return on Wednesday. They don’t have to feature in Zesco’s league fixture on Wednesday. The team needs enough time together to blend,’’ he said.
And an exuberant Mambas’ coach Abel Xavier said that his side will not get carried away by the win over the 2012 African champions.
The former Liverpool player said his team will remain focused to achieve their target of qualifying for the 2019 Cameroon Africa Cup of Nations.
“We should focus and put our foot on the ground. We prepared well for the game against Zambia, a team we have a lot of respect for, and a win against Zambia shows that in modern football anything is possible when you prepare,” Xavier said.
The next round of qualifiers will be played in March 2018 with Zambia taking on Namibia while Mozambique will host Guinea Bissau.
