Chipolopolo have kicked off the 2023 Africa Cup Group H qualifying campaign with huge loss to Cote D’Ivoire away in Yamoussoukro.
Disjointed Zambia on Friday night allowed second half goals to lose 3-1 to the West African side that dominated both halves.
Coach Aljosa Asanovic’s side held Cote D’Ivoire until the 66th minute when forward Serge Aurier smashed home from corner started by Premier League star Wilfred Zaha.
Christian Kouame doubled the lead 11 minutes later with a powerful header from another corner kick.
Ibrahim Sangare completed the rout with an 88th minute goal before Patson Daka grabbed Zambia’s consolation with the last kick of the match from a rebound.
Keeper Toaster Nsabata had earlier in the first half kept Zambia in the game with some fine saves.
Nsabata saved a shot from the line after 23 minutes and was again summoned to stop Max Gradel’s 26th minute free kick.
Captain Enock Mwepu shot over from outside the box when Zambia created the first clear opportunity in the first half.
Meanwhile, Zambia remain bottom of Group H after Comoros thumped Lesotho 2-0 in their opening match earlier on Friday afternoon.
This match marked Asanovic’s competitive debut following his appointment as Chipolopolo coach in January.
Zambia is now shifting attention to Tuesday’s home Group H encounter again Comoros set for the National Heroes Stadium in Lusaka.
Last week and for many months I have been saying that zambia will not win any sport competition under the evil upnd regime. My words have come to pass. I am glad we lifted the afcon under pf. I was there and it will never happen again. Amen
Tulamyeba tamufwaya ukumfwa! Get rid of Kamanga and everything will run smoothly. We have a very good crop of players at present and they can win AFCON. Without Kamanga!
The midfield did not seem to function well, starving Daka of quality passses and exposing the defenders. Asanovic was a midfileder himself, so it is surprising that he let that situation to be. The 3-5-2 formation did not seem to work because the wingers were not helping the defenders, resulting in Ivory Coast having extra players on Zambia’s defensive left and right, which is how two of the goals were created. Let’s hope for better in the coming matches. We have to beat Comoros and Lesotho home and away.
We know what we have to do. How to do it is what we don’t know