Zambia prepare for mission Tanzania clash

by Thando Mpembe

Monday Jun 10, 2024. 12:01

Zambia will lock horns with Tanzania in their fourth CAF 2026 World Cup qualifying match at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Nodola on Tuesday afternoon.

Kick-off is at 15:00 CAT.

These two nations are tied on points in Group E with a total of three placed second and fourth respectively, which is the same amount of points of Niger who are placed third.

Hemed Suleiman’s men will go into the game hoping to grab one over Chipolopolo and break their skid of four consecutive competitive games without a win, having failed to win the previous six matches between the two nations since November 2007.

Zambia suffered a 2-1 defeat to Morocco at the Stade Adrar last week Friday, ending their streak of straight victories since November.

Hakim Ziyech converted his sixth penalty to give Morocco a perfect start, and after Eliesse Ben Seghir increased their advantage in the 67th minute, Edward Chilufya scored in the 80th.

Prior to that, Zambia ended a record of six straight games without a win in all competitions on 26 March by defeating Malawi 2-1 thanks to first-half goals from Clatous Chama and Patson Daka.

After starting their World Cup qualifying campaign with a resounding 4-2 victory over Congo, Avram Grant’s side has already lost two consecutive matches, surrendering four goals and scoring once.

Despite a difficult start to the campaign, they have the opportunity to tie with first-place Morocco with all three points on Tuesday.

Tanzania, on the other side, began their qualifying campaign on November 18, narrowly defeating Niger 1-0 at the Stade de Marrakech thanks to a second-half goal from Charles M’Mombwa.

Since then, Suleiman’s men have had a difficult run of results, falling out of the 2023 AFCON group stages after only two points from three matches, and failing to win two of their four friendly matches this year, including a goalless draw with Indonesia on June 2.