Micho in the dock after 2021 COSAFA exit

Milutin Sredojevic, coach of Zambia reacts during the 2021 COSAFA Cup match between South Africa and Zambia at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth, on 14 July 2021 ©Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix

by Staff Reporter

Wednesday Jul 14, 2021. 18:00

Football Association of Zambia President Andrew Kamanga has disclosed that a review will be held this week on Chipolopolo’s COSAFA Cup performance that subsequently led to Zambia’s group stage exit on July 14 at the South Africa tournament.

The outgoing champions struggled in their opening two group games that they lost 2-1 to Lesotho and 1-0 against Eswatini to collect back-to-back losses at the COSAFA Cup for the first time-ever.

Chipolopolo then redeemed themselves in their penultimate Group A match on July 13 when they beat Botswana 2-1.

But Wednesday’s 0-0 draw against hosts and Group A winners Bafana Bafana was not enough for under-fire Zambia coach Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic to steer his team to the semifinals.

“We have called a meeting immediately after the team returns to address the poor performance by the team, especially the technical bench and player’s attitude,” Kamanga told The Times of Zambia.

“We are taking steps to ensure that we start the World Cup qualifiers with the right technical team with only players willing to commit to the qualifiers and everyone is expected to pull in one direction.”

Chipolopolo finished second from bottom in Group A on 4 points, one point more than Lesotho and six points adrift of South Africa.

Eswatini advanced as Group A runners-up on 7 points after drawing 1-1 with Botswana who finished third on 4 points.

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