Zambia today lost their final pre-Africa Cup frinedly match away to Morrocco who beat their visitors 2-0 min Fez.
The two sides were scoreless going into the break before striker Tarik Sektioui conveted a penalty in the 53rd minute after Yusef Hadji had been brought down in the box.
Morocco extended their lead on the hour-mark through Mustapha Alloudi following a defensive error by the Zambians.
Zambia tomorrow head off to Ghana to begin their final leg preparations for their opening Group C game against Sudan on January 22 in Kumasi.
Meanwhile, Egypt girls Under-20 team rallied twice to finish 2-2 against their Zambian counterparts in a Fifa 2008 Chile World Under-20 World Cup qualifier played at Woodlands stadium this afternoon.
Despite this match being the Egyptians first ever Under-20 outing they displayed some impressive technique and played a bar above their hosts.
However it was Zambia who took the lead in the 20th minute through Florence Tembo who whipped in a long range shot against the run of play.
Egypt equalized 8 minutes later from the spot after winning a penalty when their dangerous striker Naria Salir was hacked down in the box after skipping pasted three Zambian players.
Salra Mansour stepped up to convert the resultant penalty to see the two sides go level at 1-1 into the break.
Zambia were back on top in the 48th minute with a another fine long-range shot from striker Leah Bowa before Nourham Abdel grass-cutter in the 67th minute settled matters.
The two sides meet in the second leg on January 21 in Ismaili with the winner over the two leg meeting either Namibia or Congo DR in the first round.
Oh dear, we really ought to work on our defense… LT, who played?
Whats this story about Elijah Tana any clarification we need a solid defence
We have now given away 5 penalties in our friendlies. It is obvious PP defence is lacking an experienced head. If Tana is out of the team we are in big trouble. I reckon we should play 5 men in the middle because our defence is inexperienced and will seriuosly be expeosed by the Sudanese. We must ensure Tana is allowed to go to Ghana. The ball over the top is proving to be a nightmare for the Zambian defense. The midfield will be absolutely vital. It will be disater not to get out of group
Anyone in the team is replaceble including Tana & Patrick Phiri. Zambia frog-jumped south africa in October without tana and I really dont understand why you guys want to make a big meal out of the “tana” story. Let the coach do the coaching, full stop
4# I have just watched th highlights on Youtube some of the defending was amateurish, basic school boy error. The Zamian efense was all over the hop. Calling fo experience doesnt mean that Tana is ireplaceable. I remain to be proved wrong but it was so shocking to see our defending. The Legendary Melus, Changwes, Chombas woud hav defended better. The is no communication among the defenders However thereis time to wrk on that defense. Our goalie isvery good just alarmng the defense sliced op
ctd time and time again. I am a believer but faith without action is dead, so the boys need urgent help from Mr Simukonda who as a seasoned dfender. We didnmarginally bette than Senegal wo were badly beaten by Morocco 3-0. Patrik ca prove alot of people including me wrong. I am hopeful wen the serious business starts our defending will have improved greatly coz we will need to do so if Eto’o is not to have a field day
I just watched the highlights on youtube.com, and I must concur with Chisuma’s comments above. The defense was poor by any standards and Morocco fully exploited our weaknesses. Apart from the impressive form of the goal keeper, there is very little positive to say about the back line. However, as Zambians we have constantly been deprived of top quality friendlies and this was an absolutely vital game for the coaching staff. Hopefully they had their pen and papers out and took notes.
Bitter but a good lesson for the guys,it reminds them that they are not on vacation but work.Loose a game, learn from your mistakes and move on. This years Nations cup is different, many good teams and players so we should be sceptical. It’s football anyways, sometimes we loose. 2-0 is bad but let’s think about the 11-1 we walloped those Spaniads select,,,,,I say some kind of motivation! Chipolopolo represents.
I just saw the friendly games on YouTube, like most of guys have observed, the the defense is very disorganized. Not even Tana can fix the problem. It is about chemistry, communication and not panicking when under pressure. The boys are flying with tackles from behind in the 18 yard giving away penalties as if that is the best option. It is a shame to watch. Even simple tactics like kicking the ball out for a throw-in or corner when under pressure are lucking from our defense. Biggest problem…
with this team is that there is no leader both in defense and attack who can calm the nerves of the other players. The boys are yet to mature to gain that composure and claim there places in the team. Which is why it is important to keep maintain the winning team. It is easier to fix one variable at a time than shuffling players like a deck of cards. Well I don’t blame the players, Zambia needs a coach to develop a team that knows how to play together as a unit.
Ba kaamba! that last goal was soooo embarrassing. Lesa wesu!!!
Guys what I saw on youtube is really a big problem, our defending is really poor. PP has to make changes in defence, i feel Chintu Kampamba should start in central defence along side Nketani with Billy Mwanza at # 2: my starting line up should be as folloows vs Sudan
1. Mweene Kennedy
2. Billy Mwanza
3. Chinyama William
4. Nketani Kennedy
5. Chintu Kampamba
6. William Njovu
7. Felix Katongo
8. Kalaba Rainford
9. Chamanga James
10. Jacob Mulenga
11. Clifford Mulenga
I may be wrong but
Zambia is more like the lusaka urban district council football team. our players do not seem to understand how to play as a team. we should just have sent zanaco football to represent us. i can bet up,” our team will no win a single game.” waste of money, just bring them back home.
Guys,
I watched the match yesterday (albeit on a very poor webstream) and the defending was really poor. I’m sorry to single a player out, but Joseph Musonda at left back was terrible! Actually even at the last ACN him and Hachilensa were both really poor and by the time we played SA in the final game both had been benched. I don’t think either Clive or Joseph have inproved in the last 2 years. Yesterday Joseph was tortured by Yusuf Hadji and should have been taken off within the first
half an hour of the match. He wasn’t helped by the fact that we played 4-3-3 and he didn’t have a covering midfielder infront of him, but even so he didn’t demonstrate even a basic understanding of how to defend. Interestingly William Njovu used to play left back and if I were PP I would have subbed Musonda and put Willy there. Guys, what I can say is that our goal wasn’t being bombarded, we managed to keep them at bay and even their two goals were mistakes on our part. The tackle leading to
the penalty was a crazy decision (again our man Joseph Musonda) and the less said about the second goal the better. I don’t know if PP has an idea about who is going to start in defence, but it will be tough to chose from the bunch that we have. Our midfield is going to present some pleasant problems as I think we have some good depth in that dept. I was impressed with Bakala and F. Katongo yesterday.
good losers
i did not watch the game but in morocco you may not have expected a win.even during the great times of kalu and the like we never managed to beat the atlas lions but guys relax,it was a freindly in morrocco and u know the crowd there is really immerse so give the boys a befefit of a doubt and encorourage them.what is tana story at the moment?
sudan lost 6-0 to guinea so relax for our loss to morrocco
Anonymous thanks for the result 6-0 ya!I have watched a few of the clips on the game.Our defense was at 6’s and 7’s the second goal was a school boy error.I agree with the guys on the blog our defense is not up to standard especially on the flanks.J.Musonda seems to lack pace even during the Tunisia game when he got a red card he was beaten for pace by the Tunisian Striker and tackled from behind.As i said before we need a Defensive Midfielder in the team who can cut some attacks and Contd
That defence played like my local team here in the village. Mpezeni Bullets defenders probably communicate even better among themselves.
I see no future at AFCON achimwene!! Ni mavuto oka oka.
Sibs you are right but people in the technical the do not seem to care.
and provide cover to the defense.We really have a good goalkeeper in K.Mweene but the defense let him down on Sat.The Moroccans were fast and this is what P.P should brace himself for in Ghana.Why not play C.Kapamba or F.Kasonde in the Midfield.On the Tana Saga i don’t know what to say till the facts are clear.The only thing i can say is that we submitted a list of 22 players & not 23 like most teams. Still Good luck to the Team.
I saw the Morocco game on video and I agree with the guys concerning the defence. The technical bench should really do something. I can only wait for Zambia’s first game and probably the second, to see how far we can go.
lets be grateful the loss is in a practise match…at least PP is alert to our frailties at the back. Winning all your prep matches is the worse thing that can happen as it makes the players over confident/complacent. At least PP now has sumthin’ to work on!!
Ghana lost 1-0 to a club in the United Arab Emirates.This doesn’t mean Ghana are not going to fare well in the Afcon.Like some guys have said these games are their to help the Technical team know what the need to do and to show the flaws in the team.Like #26 Original Pundit says you can’t win all your preparatory games.That would be a recipe for disaster.
Hi,
Everyone is crying on our defence. What about the front-line or strikers, where were they not to have SCORED?
WHAT ABOUT THE MIDDLE FIELD?
Zambia is going to fulfill the fixtures in our group. If at all we make it to the next stage, then it shall be temporal stay.
Our team is still fit for COSAFA CECAFA TOURNAMENTS, not Africa Cup.
Suppose we qualify to the next stage of the tournament, then do meet Morocco or Tunisia, guess the result and panic in our camp, from supporters….?
I GUSS JUSTICE IS RIGHT THT TEAM SHOULD START, BUT ALL I KNW IS WE WILL BEAT SUDAN.
Jhomu you are the one that is panicking over friendly games.Its different when you go into a real game and when you playing a friendly game.I didn’t see a comment from you when we beat Tunisia 2-1.What’s your take on Senegal’s 3-0 loss to Morocco last month??
People are talking of the defense cos the allowed what one would call ‘an own goal’ and a penalty that was not necessary.It’s like you didn’t watch the game or see the highlights.Watch the game then you will have a broad perspective of what we saying.The Coach himself spoke of the defense as an area of concern,though of cos there is room for improvement up front.The Strikers rattled the post against Morocco and as Whisper said the look good going forward.
Hi brothers
I think PP and the entire team have leant something from these friendlies. Am sure PP is busy working on the loopholes and as fans let us wait for the main action next week and give the boys all the support they need. Mourning over loses in friendly games won’t help us. Lets start singing now..IYEE CHIPOLOPOLO…BA ZED..IYEEE….
Mulonga should refund all travelling expenses incured by Tana and David Nkausu from his own pocket. Tax payers’ money is just flushed in the toilet like that. Kwena pa Zed tulifipuba sana. We let people misuse and mismanaged state funds and keep quite. No wonder we have perpetual plunderers. We should wake up otherwise we will continue wallowing in stinking poverty.
What a team. the game was so imblanced. it was like the ATLAS LIONS paliying a MALNOURISHED SECONDARY SCHOOL FOOTBALLERS.
SHAME ON BROTHERS FROM ZAMBIA
Iwe Abdu, ule landa bwino waumfwa? Its good to lose some friendlies coz then the technicle bench can sit up and iron out weaknesses. Another advantage is that it can cause other teams to underate you. Imagine if from that 11-1 bashing, Zambia went on to beat all opponents in freindly games with huge margins, all our AFCON opponents were going to have some extra training just for us and all the games would have ended up being extremely tough. I’m therefore not very troubled. Abdul upose ko amano.
Abdulaziz bro. please dont start again.
Despite all this defence stuff, I am still positive that Zambia can pull up a surprise in the first round. I am sure the coaching staff are not dumb not to sort out the defence. Like I have said before, this is the all idea of friendlies. I know the defence is a concern in the Zambian team. But lets wait and see.
Abdulaziz your team Sudan lost 6-0.I think you trying to bring your frustrations here how can you lose 6-0?? Maybe your guys didn’t eat cos of Hunger in Sudan.At least you are eating well in Zambia.
true billy, we will pass thru the first round, i sure will beat sudan and egypt. cameroon are not so good like the last fews years, tht is why the called the old man, song. who i believe will have a problem stopping jacob or katongo.
Abdulaziz! your team sudan will be taught a football lesson, this is not 1970 whn only 4 countries were in the AFCON,since then u guys have never been to the AFCON.we beat those tall dark chaps, u guys are not our level. maybe sumone in africa’s top 15 team can open they mouth and talk, not u janjaweed niggers
Buti, ba abdu kwena, muposeko amano, cacine! you must be on the wrong website, we mu alqaeda webo! This site is for ZAMBIAN PATRIOTS! People with Zambia’s interests at heart.I didnt know that you were allowed access to email at “GITMO”.
Now onto more serious things: I really dont understand where Teddy Mulonga comes in as far as deciding who PP plays.This is the same type of interference that happened with picking the zambian player of the year. Does this guy think he’s a headmaster at
a boarding school? So what if tana missed a flight weeks ago.Many of the players were still with their clubs at the time. If you want to set examples start by doing your jobs as administraters, and let the technical team do their own thing.we want the best team,and i can understand decisions where fitness of a player has been questioned; but i just cant understand the logic of wasting money to fly a player thousands of miles only to drop him next day! Thats pretty amateurish selection.
hey man, ok to that iam supporting teddy, if he is the one who decided on tana, then tht is wrong. but i guss leaving out Tana was good, cuz i can tell u tht Tana didn’t travel with the team cuz he jst wanted to chill in zambia, he was seen alot of teams drinking. so i guss it is good tht he was left out. and we managed to qualify without Tana, we beat south africa, congo with tht dude, so i guss billy mwanza and kennedy will do a great job.but I WANT KALU FOR FAZ PRESIDENT.!! LETS GO ZAMBIA
HEY WE WASTED MONI NO TANA, BUT IT IS GOOD THT HE WAS LEFT OUT. BUT TEDDY SHOULD GO,
Zambia touched down in Accra on Sunday night, becoming the first of 16 teams participating in the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations to arrive.
The Chipolopolo party flew in on a British Airways flight from London at 2050 GMT to begin the process of acclimatising to their new surroundings.
They were met at Kotoka International Airport by a delegation from the Local Organising Committee led by the chairman, Dr Kofi Amoah.
Zambia kick off their campaign against Sudan on 22 January in Kumasi, b
Zambia kick off their campaign against Sudan on 22 January in Kumasi, but captain Christopher Katongo played down his team’s chances of winning the tournament.
“Our mission is to go back home with some victories. This is a difficult tournament which you can’t win just by talking,” Katongo told BBC Sport in the arrivals hall.
He added: “Our team has just been built in the last three to four years and we are here to try and do our best.”
Two years ago, the Zambians got no further than
Listen to Fast Track on the BBC World Service at 1600 GMT on Monday for a full interview with Christopher Katongo.
kwena abudula we do not provoke other people if u are used to starting up wars with you weapons of mass distractions ukokwine uko ku sudan us we win on the soccer field waba ilyobe !
lets hope were not the first to arrive and become the first to go!, hahaha, never mighty zambia for life we will be there until the 10th febuary playing the finals.
Bane. I am impressed with very mature and positive comments made here. If we could debate issues like this, then there is hope for Zambia. I thank all you guys for educating me about the fact that these are friendlies although like anyone , my main concern is our defence. On Katongo’s interview, I say to him remember Zambia 1974. We went there for the first time and got to the final. While I agree modern football is more advanced than 1970s we should still expect to go very far just as
ctd… Isaac Chansa expected, atleast a semifinal place. We can talk about experience but as I always believe, we have no right to be at AFCON if we don’t believe we can win that cup. I don’t want to go there with low expectation so Chris just beleive even though we maybe inexperienced. VIVA ZAMBIA VIVA CHIPOLOPOLO. VIVA TO YOU BROS ON THIS BLOG. YOU REALLY ARE ZAMBIAS HOPE FOR TOMORROW. GOD BLESS YOU ALL.
JUST FOR FELLOW BLOGGERS INFORMATION
Zambia only gets to the Finals after 20 years, we got there in 1974 and in 1994, The next time will be 2014.
Thanks for info, Bily (No. 46 and 47). I’ll try to listen to the interview.
Ahhh Chikumbuso [53]. Yabufi iyo. We are going far. We’ll start with hammering Sudan. Ba Zambia Chipolopolo. Mwa li cishiba ichipolopolo imwe? Oh ni Zee.
The Chipolopolo song will be heard thru out the world. Not all is lost guys. Tu bikemo icimwela. Iyeeeeeee! Chipolopolo! Iyeeeeee…
bravo!! [55], ba zed ni zee!! ask, italy, south africa, there will tell u, wat it is like to underating zambia.
How do you expect to win when you dont have a national stadium.
With or without a National Stadium zed soccer is respected, chapwa. After analyising the friendly games I am sure zed will do well. When we reached the finals in 1994, zed played clubs here in Denmark won and drew most of the games, when we went to the African Nations AFCON1994 we performed wonders and only lost one game i.e. the finals vs Nigeria, a game we could have easily won if we had managed to sc from the many chances we had. I still that game on video. I think we should wait and see ….
cause just as we are worried and so are the other teams beleive me you. Just tell me which player wants to risk getting injuired 14 days before such a big event as AFCON. The boys will fight for every inch of space come the 22/01-2008. If Sudan will beat Zambia I will stand for the Presidence of FAZ
HI GUYS
are we all together?
Brothers!are you planning to make SUDAN as your only, and sole consolation! OH PLEASE
Losses like this one are good if they make the bench realise what it needs to do when the competition starts. We needed to play the likes of Morocco very early in our preparations but the loss shouldn’t worry us too much because Fighton Simukonda must have seen the basic errors and must be working on them now. Of Course we need a cool calm and collected central defender. The likes of the late Watiyakeni Elija Litana and Yellowman but we cant keep wishing for them. Right now we need Tana
Tana is not there, and as such we have to do with what we have. Chintu Kampamba is my first choice as a replacement for Tana, he is tall and huge. Iwe Abdupono who are your brothers? Ine awe mune since when umu lungwana abele brother wandi? We shall start by whipping Sudan, drawing with our brothers Cameroon and ending up by whipping aba lungwana bale shitisha abantu
#65 for your information, Chintu is not tall and huge. He is just average. The other bloggers who have seen him in person can agree with me.
Chikumbuso # 53 even though you are right Zambia only gets to the finals after 20 years, i think this year God’s favor is on us we will break the cycle and reach the finals.We wont wait for 2014, the time is now
Mbulawa, spot on, 2008 is a year of new beginnings. We might just lift it.
i love you zambian people…..
…and.. (i dont speach english)fortune and fame for ZAMBIA TEAM. good luck and kalebalika. and CIAO for my new family in kabwe and my mulamos BOB MULI and TONY MUKWASA, happy new year…
Guys, u still have hope?
ceazer is it our game which has closed up to them DOGS or its viceversa? :-w