Zambia on Tuesday returned early to training in the comfort zone of Ka Nyamazane Stadium outside Nelspruit.
This is after their bruising 1-1 against Ethiopia in their opening Group C match on Monday evening at Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit.
The team held a two hour training session, the only one of the day for the African champions.
Eight of the players who played the over 75 minutes against Ethiopia had a light 40 minute workout.
Kennedy Mweene, Davies Nkausu, Hichani Himonde, Stopilla Sunzu, Nathan Sinkala, Rainford Kalaba, Collins Mbesuma and Christopher Katongo all had a brief workout.
Missing was Chisamba Lungu who had a full practice despite finishing the game.
Meanwhile, they are no injury concerns with every player on Tuesday involved in practice under Herve Renard.
Next match let others play,you 22 to select from,we sick and tired of the so called vets,we need young blood make some few changes from the last team.
Chivuta should replace Nkausu and Chamanga in place of Chris starting lineup.
Chris Katongo was the worst player or is of all who played and started.
Chivuta is a great free-kick taker, much better the waster Kalaba. The ball is too heavy for Kalaba to kick from the corner.
The game was horrible to say the least. The coach was equally out of touch with reality.
Let them just come back quickly so that we can save the promised $$$$$$$$$$$$$$.
Thats the real Zambian football and not what made them win the AFCON last year. The goal keeper was sleeping in goal; only wakes up when its time for penalties. Rubish kind of football.
WARNING: Zambians check your expectations; because some of you will collapse to death!!!!!!!!!
Use chamanga in the next game and enough play time to Mukuka Mulenga.
Chamanga likula sana he shouldnt even use him!! he must use Mayuka and King David!!
Chamanga is not any better! We need someone like Mayuka, focused and strong on the ball. Chamanga fails to use his physical presence and wastes a lot of chances.
That was a real wake up call for Zambia.
Good, next Friday they are playing against an opponent whose ego has been bruised by B-Faso and also has a long held grudge to beat iChipolopolo just to prove a point. If iChipolopolo go into the game in the same relaxed, carefree and complacent mode they displayed with Ethiopia, they will get an embarrassing thumping and an early ticket home. This is unacceptable. They should realise that they are champions of Africa and should defend that trophy with fanatic passion.
Valid point you make, pal.
Am not sure Chamanga is the answer to the luckluster display we had, I agree Mukuka Mulenga and even Jacob Mulenga may need more time. Chris Katongo is becoming selfish and probably forced Jacob to try his luck at being jealous, am sure coach has talked about that. Criticsl substitutions like Mayuka need to be done in the 60th minute to give time for impact from player, not 85th minute!!!
King David Mbesuma starts and needs more support and service!!
I agree with you on Mukuka and Mayuka. Jacob Mulenga, Rainford Kalaba and Chris Katongo need to find their form before they can be allowed to play for Zambia.
Himoonde is so out of form. Is that the best the PE Teacher could do in terms of team selection?
Now that Algeria and tunisia have drawn 0-0 it means Cote divoire has bright chances of going to round two. I like CIV team they live to expectations not Chipolopolo
But they lost to iChipolopolo last year!
AFCON 2012 is in the archives….when your friends were playing friendlies against highly ranked opposition you were busy touring with the trophy for 10 months.
No need to wake up now just smell the coffee!!
Tunisia and Algeria are playing just now. So what do you mean that they have drawn iwe ko lwe na chipato
As for Zed our coach made errors in team selection, however it is up to him to correct them
I don’t know what Tunisia vs Algeria game you had been watching. The game i watched Tunisia won 1-0 scored in 90 minutes, a spectacular strike.
Tunisa beat Algeria 1-Nil pal. Which TV station were you watching?
Stay updated ALG 0 TUN 1
TUNISIA WON ONE , ZERO BROTHER
point of correction, Tunisia won by lone goal.
Bravo Zambia. We are coming back with the cup
I wonder why they are shocked only they unprepared and blind hero worshiping fanatics get shocked. Ivory Coast have won their first game that should tell you why the are always considered as favourites and not us.
Now you will start to see sense in why FIFA created that FIFA Ranking Table….Zambia is likened to a lazy pupil who wants to cram the whole syllabus 20 minutes before a final exam and expect to pass with flying colours.
Agreed. They kick the ball in a lazy , inaccurate and sloppy fashion, especially at the goal mouth. How do you expect the ball to go in? Is this not a couching problem, or just poor players, or both?
We are just crap. Coach playing with one striker up front and 9 defenders yaba chi kala
I don’t understand people who are shocked by the draw with Ethiopia. After beating Ghana in Ndola back in June Zambia has been in terrible form, playing weak teams ang struggling to beat or draw with them. On the other hand Ethiopia came into the game rated as an under-dog despite having very consistent form over the last 12 months playing and beating or drawing with the likes of Tanzania, South Africa and Tunisia. Wish should not forget to super support they got from their fans. All things considered I am not surprised with a draw which I consider and exceptable result as it could have been worse
Why cant the ticket prices be reduced so that us poor zambians afford to travel and cheere our boys kansi? It doesnt make sence having thousand empty seats!
Is it only zambians to few those empty seats?
The problem is not the ticket prices but the matches but the venues. You remember when Zambia played South Africa for the Nelson Mandela cup in November in Johannesburg a sizeable and noisy crowd showed up because there is a large Zambian population in JHB. However Mbombela stadiums in Nelspruit is 300km from Jhb which means a 3-4hrs drive. Considering that the matches are being played during the week it makes it difficult for fans to travel. The fans that Ethiopia has is an exception as you will not doubt be aware that Ethiopians are found everywhere in large quantities in part due the nature of their main pre-occupation (trading). So no doubt their is probably an large number of Ethiopians resident in Nelspruit. It will even be worse if they get to paly in Johannesburg
if i may ask,what formation did Zambia use in their last game?
Whatever it was, it was a sloppy-unproductive formation.
The National team did not play very badly and therefore we still have a good chance of defending the Cup of Nations.
We must also take into consideration the fact that the state of the pitch was not very good for both teams.
Ethiopia did not play badly either, maybe what we can learn from this is that we should not underestimate any team that qualifies for the tournament.
All the best to our Chipolopolo Team.
Yes We Can!!
A bad carpenter blames his tools. On the same pitch goals were scored and the other team played well. So, do not blame the pitch. Most African playing fields are like that, anyway.
Mbesuma excellent player without him zambia was to luz to SA and to 10 Ethiopia team. Generaly our national team won the cup by invisible powers of spirits of the entire national team killed in plane crash into the Atlantic ocean Gabon.
“Generaly our national team won the cup by invisible powers of spirits of the entire national team killed in plane crash into the Atlantic ocean Gabon.”
Really? Why did they not invoke the same spirit?
Remember the invisible eyes of the invincible spirits at the Gabon west coast watching.
The coaching is just bad….how can ones players be so lazy on the ball, they can’t attack, they always play in their own zone ….rubbish indeed. If they can’t put more effort , then on friday they will be beaten like children.
Peace and Prosperity to Mother Zambia.
I AGREE. LETS USE MORE ATTACK MINDED PLAYERS LIKE MUKUKA, CHISAMBA, MUSONDA, MBESUMA, MAYUKA. PASSING THE BALL BACK TO THE GOALKEEPER WHEN U R DOWN IS NOT THE WAY TO DO IT. I’VE BOUGHT TICKETS FOR FRIDAY’S MATCH. NELSPRUIT, HERE I COME……..
I hope chipolopolo lose the next game and hopefully crash out.We have far more important pursuits like fixing our 14th century classrooms,cleaning our filthy towns and gaining a sizeable pie of our economy.As it is now we’re just distracted by a useless leather ballgame instead of focusing on our real challenges.Zedians are dying of cholera mind you.
YES SIR YOU ARE CORRECT
Ethiopia is not underdog team .In there world cup qualifier group they are currently on top and that should tell us something.Moreover, lets wait and see Nigeria may even lose to these Guys.
You are right. Ethiopia neutralised Zambia. We were lucky to get a point from that game.
‘Underdogs’ does not means in this case that Ethiopia is weaker but that their level of achievement hasn’t been proven yet as they have less experience, have not participated in Afcon for 31 yrs, and are still growing as compared to Zambia or Nigeria who are always at the Afcon and are cup holders or have a good track record, in case of Nigeria even participate at world cup finals.
Zambian players fail to think on the pitch. Its on Chisamba Lungu who played football with his mind. Jacob Mulenga does not understand the system. Mayuka can rise to the occasion he needs more play time with Mbesuma up front. The Mweene is good but he is never in the goal only when there is a penalty. If he was in the goal post when Ethiopia was on the attack that ball would not have gone in. Zambia stands no chance in this Afcon and i advise all those with BP to keep away from the TV.
True, Mweene was beaten at the near post. He should know how to close the angle.
Other point is the competition has just started. I am seeing Zambia go past the group stage. The boy Chisamba also failed to score into open mouthed goal posts. He played well but that miss!
Most competitions start like that.
God bless.
I agree with u @19.1 considerate; look at Nigeria, SA, Ghana, Morocco etc..they all have had difficulties. Chipolopolo have even the pressure of being defending champs, they have also a point to prove, they will get over their fever and improve on tactical approach.
The boys didn’t play too badly guys. They just need to run/race in attack like they did in CAN2012. If they do, no team can resist them because they will put every opponent on back pedal.
Supporters are free to air their views here, but some pieces of advice being given to the coach and team are simply none starters.
And we should learn to concentrate throught the matches. Lack of concentration costs us in many matches. We go to sleep a lot when things look better before the end of the matches.
I also think the match was lost more on the tactical approach than technical, they should have changed the approach after Ethiopia went a man less and a goal down….Ethiopia became so aggressive and Zambia should v closed the game down rather than have an open match with a wounded buffalo. No need to go aggressively forward again a team that is one man one go down.
pipo mayuka,jacob,mukuka mulenga need more play time.christopher has become selfish/tired so he needs less play time.its Zambia 2 nigeria 1
Zambia used an all out attack system, because they were playing against underdogs and they were under pressure to score, thus made themselves vulnerable to counter attacks against the ethiopia underdogs, who were not under any pressure to win and therefore concentrated better….remember Zambia/Ghana and Zam/ Ivory Coast Afcon 2012!!!…. Against Nigeria Zambia is probably an underdog, in the eyes of many, therefore, from the chipolopolo perspective caution has to be displayed in defense, defensively stable players like Mbola cud b better than the ever overlapping Chisamba Lungu, and efficiency at goal is important as there may not b as many chances to shoot at goal that why efficient players like Mbesuma and Mayuka could be more useful upfront in the Nigeria match on friday.
The line up to me was okey except for two – we needed to substitute them like at half time i.e. Chansa for Mukuka and Chris for Mayuka, full stop we will carry the day.
THE TRUTH IS WE ARE NOT GOING TO DEFEND THIS CUP.IF IT HAPPENS THAT WE GO TO THE QUARTER FINALS ,IVORY COAST OR TUNISIA ARE WAITING FOR US.LETS BE REALISTIC THE TEAM IS NOT AT IT’S BEST.LET’S JUST CONCENTRATE ON THE WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS.
We know they do that,……………………
Well, do not misquote me. This is my personal view. Zambia went into the game as having already won the game. After the penalty save from Kennedy who other pipo call sleeping goal keeper (wrong perspective) and the red card to Ethiopian goal keeper, a goal by Mbesuma; they thought on their hearts, aha we have already won, which was not the case.
The first mistake which Renard made was to sacrifice a defender for a striker. He was supposed to keep the defence tight instead remove Chris for Mayuka. Fantastic to remove Isaac but I think also Kalaba was not his day, so he was supposed to be rested for either Njovu or Chivuta.
I look forward to see a packed line-up being manned by Kennedy without Christopher on Friday. Mayuka should be brought in immediately we start the second half.
Enough of talks, let give you how the line up should be:
Goalie, Mweene, Right back, Joseph Musonda, Left back, Mbola, central defender, Himoonde & Nsuzu, Mid Chisamba Lungu & Chansa as holding, Mukuka mulenga & Sakuwaha attacking mid, strikers Mbesuma & Mayuka
And Nathan??? Uliwabufi boyi
The standard of football that Zambia played was best in this tournament. So far we are the only team that has better ball control with realistic passes. Problem is that we were abit complaisant; we need to be aggressive and show hungry for goals. Rest of big teams including Côte d’Ivoire, were just running around like chickens with no heads. Get Focused Chipolopolo you can DO IT AGAIN.
I support you bro chipolopolo is the team that has played beter sofer nd we can do beter than people’s expectatios.Go ZAMBIA GO
Many soccer fans are just negative if they do not get their expected result and many cannot even give a simple objective analysis….chipolopolo played well but made few mistakes in their approach and not in ball-handling or team coordination. Technically they were fine, which is the responsibility of players, but tactically suspect, this is the coach’s responsibility and thats why he admitted this mistake…..wrong approach when Zambia went a goal up and 1 man more than Ethiopia….. they will do better in the next match on friday.
Ndoleshafye mukwaii !!!!!!
When Chipolopolo crushes out, let us ensure that the US$90,000 each player (US$90,000 x 23 players + US$90,000 x backroom staff) was promised is channeled to building our dilapidated schools, hospitals, clinics and other infrstructure in our beloved country.
probably it was Renard’s plan that we should just give it a draw so that super eagles underrate us. You’ll see. it will work. Remember even during KKs time Zambia used to chillax in the first half. Come second half. Pasopu!
PLEASE lets not believe in hallusnations the Boys only think of allowances which an ordinally zambian does not have. We are agreat fooballing nation but look at the sloppy performance our team exhbitied, pathetic ball game all together. Come back boys we English league to enjoy.
lets do it this only and last chance Zambia.