CHAN 2018: Zambia Eye Knock-Out Stage Qualification

Zambia will hope to maintain their status as Group B leaders of the African Nations Championship (CHAN) when they come up against Ivory Coast at Stade de Marrakech on Thursday evening for matchday two.

The Chipolopolo showed their class with a 3-1 win over Uganda thanks to Lazarous Kambole, Augustine Mulenga and Fackson Kapumbu goals.

The victory can only but bode well for Wilson Nyirenda’s boys heading into encounter against Ivory Coast and they will need all the confidence they can get when they face the side that suffered a surprise defeat going 1-0 against Namibia.

“I think we are not so bad, we are looking good after that emphatic win. The boys have put that win behind and they are looking forward to that game against Ivory Coast,” Nyirenda said.

“The most important thing is not to be complacent because we are playing a team which has been wounded as they lost to Namibia in a very bad time. The game was already over in the last few seconds, they lost so they are really hurt and are wounded so they will come on us,” he added.

Ivory Coast coach Ibrahim Kamara meanwhile insists that his side can fix what went amiss in their opener against Namibia and it will be an improved showing against Zambia tonight.

“We came with the intention of scoring very quickly. But faced with a very well-organised team, it was necessary to regroup to try to take advantage of the flaws,” said Kamara.

“Unfortunately we took a goal in the last minutes. We are going to shoot the lessons for better performance in the future.

“We’ll have to roll up the sleeves to address the other meetings. We still have days ahead of us to work.

“We will have to be much more incisive and faster. I think the keys to the next matches are there,” he concluded.

The other Group B match will take place later the same day in Marrakech and sees Uganda take on Namibia.