Chipolopolo coach Avram Grant says his team suffered from the ‘brutal’ and defensive play of Chad in Friday’s goalless Group G Morocco 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier played at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium.
In a post-match interview, Grant said the injury problems for the team were compounded by the 25th minute withdraw of Miguel Chaiwa who was hacked by Eric Mbangoussoum to add to the already bloated casualty list.
Goalkeeper Lawrence Mulenga was also stretchered off due to injury in the second half. “They (Chad) are very physical, they have a lot of physical players. I think the referee who I respect very much, allowed them to be too aggressive and I told him at half time that one of the players will be injured and unfortunately it happened with the Lawrence (Mulenga).
“I think if he heeded the warning we could avoid the injuries and these injuries, I am sure about Miguel (Chaiwa) it was a red card, I hope that it will not happen again, they play very brutal,” Grant said.
The Chipolopolo coach said he was still optimistic of qualification to the Africa Cup of Nations as there were still three more games to play.
“…I believe in the word positive, to be optimistic, we have a lot of reason to be optimistic, I think if you take from the other teams so many players in one week plus your best striker before, not many teams can perform like this. We did it and it gives me a lot of encouragement that we can do it,” he said.
“Zambia does not have a big squad but we will find a solution, we will continue finding a solution. I am very optimistic because of what I saw today, what I saw against Sierra Leone, even against Ivory Coast, I think we have three games and after three games I think we will be in the Africa Cup.”
The Chipolopolo drew with Chad to maintain second spot in Group G on four points. Table toppers Coted’Ivoire thumped Sierra Leone to go to nine points while Chad moved to third place with two points with the Leone Stars rooted at one point.
Zambia and Chad face off on Tuesday in Yaounde in the reverse fixture with Coted’Ivoire away to Sierra Leone who play in Monrovia.