Wednesday Nov 17, 2021. 13:00
Chipolopolo coach Beston Chambeshi insists he has a team that will end Zambia’s AFCON drought despite Tuesday night’s humbling end to their FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Group B qualifying race.
Zambia lost 3-1 away to Tunisia in Rades just 72 hours after an emphatic 4-0 home victory over Mauritania in their penultimate Group B game.
Tuesday’s result saw Zambia end their 2022 Qatar Group B qualifying campaign with two wins, one draw and three defeats.
Tunisia advanced to next March’s final ten playoff qualifiers after winning Group B on 13 points, Equatorial Guinea finished second on 11 points, Zambia stayed put in third on 7 points while Mauritania closed their campaign on 2 points.
“We will be at the next edition of the Africa Cup of Nations for sure from the way I am looking at the team right now,” Chambeshi said.
“We will be there and I can assure you because we are molding a team that can play in any competition.”
Chambeshi, whose mandate was only for the six Group B qualifier games after replacing Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic in July, reiterated that there was no return to the proverbial drawing board despite Chipolopolo Qatar qualifying flop.
“Our aim now is we have to make sure we move on with the same team that has played in these games and add one or two players but there is no need to rebuild it. It is now just a matter of punishing the boys,” Chambeshi said.
Chipolopolo now turn their focus to the Cote d’Ivoire 2023 AFCON qualifiers where they will be battling to end an unprecedented third successive failure to qualify for the continental championship.
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