CHIPOLOPOLO’S Africa Cup of Nations (AfCON) adventure tonight gets underway with the first hurdle being a familiar foe, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in a Kasumbalesa border derby.
Zambia is making a return to the AfCON having missed the party on the last three occasions: Gabon (2017), Cameroon (2019) and Morocco (2021). The team last played at the AfCON in 2015 and ironically, DRC were its first opponent.
Their paths have crossed again, this time everyone’s hope is that the match will not end in a 1 – all draw like it was on the previous encounter.
DRC coach Sebastien Desabre sounds like a man who has done his homework.
“They have good players who have speed. That is their strength but they have weaknesses, I cannot say what they are because I have an idea of their weakness but that’s for me to know,” Desabre said at the briefing.
Those good players Desabre is referring could be Patson Daka, Lameck Banda, Fashion Sakala among others, and for the weakness, well he may just be talking about the defense.
Granted, Daka Fashion, Kings Kangwa and Banda may offer the attacking threat but that will count for nothing if the team is porous in midfield and at the back.
It will also be interesting to see who starts in goal among the trio of Lawrence Mulenga, Francis Mwansa and Toaster Nsabata.
Ahead of the match, coach Avram Grant appears cautious with his targets knowing too well that this is a game that may define Zambia’s destiny at the tournament.
Tanzania and Morocco await after this assignment.
“We are in a tough group and we need to see how much progress we have made over the last one year in this game that is why the first game is very important,” Grant said in a pre-match interview “We will see tomorrow [tonight] if we are ready or not,”
Kickoff is 22:00hrs Central African Time
(Mwebantu, Wednesday, 17th January, 2024)
