Zambia assistant coach Mumamba Numba says Chipolopolo will not treat their 2020 CHAN qualifier opponents Botswana with the same strategy employed in June’s victory over The Zebras in the 2019 COSAFA Cup final.
Chipolopolo and The Zebras meet for the second successive competitive time in a space of two months when they clash in a CHAN second round, first leg qualifier on July 26 at Francistown.
Zambia beat Botswana 1-0 in the first meeting on June 8 in the COSAFA Cup final played at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.
“It was a good outing for the team to playing in the COSAFA tournament and coming back with the trophy,” Numba said.
“But I think this is a different game all together and we have to forget about that, it is in the past.
“Equally, we have an insight about Botswana and they equally have an insight about us.
“But what is important is we adequately prepare so that as we go to play Botswana, we just go there and fight to get a win so that we come back with a victory so that we reduce pressure on our part.”
Numba is charge of the first two weeks of training camp while interim head coach Aggrey Chiyangi is away in Rwanda on CECAFA Club Cup duty with his team Green Eagles.
It will be Chipolopolo and Botswana’s second meeting at the same stage of the competition since the 2009 qualifiers that Zambia lost 1-0 away but won 3-0 in Lusaka to advance to the final qualifying round.
Winner between Zambia and Botswana will play eSwatini or Angola in the first leg on September 21 and last leg on October 18 to decide who qualifies to tournament Cameroon will host this January.
Meanwhile, Chipolopolo entered day two of the preliminary week of training camp in Lusaka ahead of their away date against Botswana before hosting The Zebras on August 3.
