Wedson Nyirenda has admitted that Zambia were second best in their 2018 CHAN Group B top two decider against Namibia on Monday night in Casablanca.
Zambia laboured from one-down to collect a hard-earned 1-1 draw with Namibia to finish 1st and 2nd respectively on 7 points each with goal difference separating the two sides.
“My team did not come to the party today; we did not play our game. I think we were so complacent in this game,” Nyirenda said.
Absalom Iimbondi put Namibia ahead in the 12th minute from a free-kick that took a bounce before eluding Zambia goalkeeper Toaster Nsabata.
But Zambia equalized twelve minutes later through Lazarus Kambole who he tapped in a cheeky ball after some hard work by Ernest Mbewe.
From then on Namibia put Zambia under pressure that saw Nsabata working overtime to ensure the score line remained even.
“We were shocked in the first half, Namibia got the goal first but we reacted and came with an equalizer through our young boy Lazarus,” Nyirenda said.
“One thing I can say about the team is that they have shown a lot of character that they want to win despite all the difficulties that we are getting into at times.”
Zambia now has five days to reload before they host Sudan in Marrakech in the quarterfinals on January 27.
Sudan finished 2nd in Group A tied on 7 points with leaders and hosts Morocco against whom they drew 0-0 last Sunday.
Namibia will face Morocco also on Saturday in the other quarterfinal tie in Casablanca.
The Namibians showed a lot of character. They seemed motivated even before the game as compared to the Zambian men. I Hope you have been paying them their allowances.
very bad performance indeed…
Wecipuba we.Abaice bawina and the only thing you can say is bad performance, learn to appreciate progress ,with me like HH in opposition Zambia as a nation we cannot go anywhere.
Take such kind of bad performance in the next round and see if your stay in Morocco will prolong. Let us call a spade a spade. I was asking myself how our boys were failing to trap the ball and resorting to chipante pante. The game was boring any.
It’s true even defenders failed to put a command performance as they were doing in all teams they played against.