By Mubukwanu Kaingu
Chipolopolo coach Avram Grant has described this Tuesday’s away AFCON qualifiers date against Chad in Yaounde, Cameroon as the start of the business end of the race to Morocco 2025.
Zambia faces Chad tomorrow in a 15h00 kickoff to be televised by ZNBC TV at the host’s adopted home in Yaounde because their venue in Ndjamena does not meet the CAF Stadium standard to stage competitive international games the African football mother body oversees.
Chipolopolo takes on Chad again just four days after playing out to a 0-0 home draw at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola last Friday, October 11.
The draw was a setback for Zambia despite maintaining second place because third-placed Chad is just four points behind them with three matches to go.
Ivory Coast leads on a maximum of 9 points and a victory away to Sierra Leone (1 point from three games) on Tuesday in Monrovia should be enough to see the AFCON champions secure one of the two, top two qualification spots in Group G.
“We said before the qualifiers started that we have six games and our target is to be at AFCON but nothing will finish in the first, second or third game,” Grant said.
“Now that we are coming into the second round of games, we need to keep our position in second place so that we qualify for AFCON. “
But bad news continues to reign over the Chad doubleheader for Zambia to compound the injury woes that have already seen Stopilla Sunzu, Lubambo Musonda, Lameck Banda and Edward Chilufya missing the Chad dates.
Goalkeeper Lawrence Mulenga is out with a facial injury he sustained in the 69th minute of the first leg at Levy that saw him substituted.
In addition, there is the bizarre case of two players leaving camp in the middle of the qualifiers with one of them striker Evans Kangwa opting out of the team to return to his club in China.
Midfielder Clatous Chama who captained Zambia against Chad has also been permitted to leave camp to attend to a family matter.
However, there is good news away from the odd departures from camp with news that midfielder Miguel Chaiwa who sustained an ankle injury against Chad and was substituted in the 25th minute has recovered and certified for the Yaounde class.
Meanwhile, Chad coach Kevin Nicaise said he isn’t going to underrate Chipolopolo despite the surprising ease at which they managed to threaten Zambia when they abandoned their defensive approach after the opening 25-minutes of Friday’s game at Levy.
“I don’t want to say we have 50-50 or 80-20 chances. It is another game and another day so anything is possible on Tuesday,” Nicaise said.
Victory is a premium result Chipolopolo needs this Tuesday because their next opponents in their penultimate Group G qualifiers will be a solid-looking defending AFCON champions Ivory Coast whom they host during the match week of November 11.
