Blog: What Chipolopolo need to do to bring back glory days

While it took Zambia 48 eight years to land its first ever Africa Cup of Nations title, it is unclear when the country will put its hands on the second one with fortunes having taken a nosedive.

When Zambia won the AfCON 10 years ago, a number of stakeholders among them former Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) vice – president Emmanuel Munaile warned the country against going on a honeymoon.

“We needed to sustain our status, I warned that we had won the AfCON yes, but there is [was] still more work to do if we were to remain competitive,” Munaile recalls,

It appears those charged with the responsibility did not pay much attention. You can call it the curse of success – what followed was unprecedented.

The team was eliminated from the group stage in the 2013 edition when they were supposed to defend the title before bowing down again at the same stage in 2015.

As though failing to progress past the group stage in back to back editions was not enough, Chipolopolo hit a new low by failing to qualify on three straight occasions,

After 2017, most if not all players that delivered the ultimate glory in Libreville, Gabon had been phased out of the team paving way for the crop of 2017 who won the Africa Under – 20 Cup of Nations on home soil.

This breed, composed of the likes of Patson Daka, Fashion Sakala, Enock Mwepu, Emmanuel Banda and Edward Chilufya has been long thought as heirs to the Chipolopolo throne.

When you randomly throw around the question, ‘who will take Chipolopolo back to the top again?,’ these names crop up.

All the past national team coaches since Wedson Nyirenda have sought to build their team around these players, and newly appointed trainer Aljosa Asanovic is taking the same direction.

You can understand those who feel this way. After all, the players are proving to be Zambia’s most-prized possessions at the moment as they are playing in big leagues.

Daka is making waves at Leicester City in the English Premier League (EPL) so is Mwepu at Brighton & Hove Albion while Sakala is being rotated at Scottish champions Rangers.

Banda, though injury prone, has the potential to be one of the best midfielders for Chipolopolo and he is proving so for his Swedish club Djurgardens IF.

Chilufya could have moved to the EPL but his club opted to take him to top Danish side, Midtjylland which at least qualifies tp the Champions League in recent seasones.

There are others like Evans Kangwa, the last remaining member of the AfCON winning who is still going on strong, and Kling Kangwa in Russia too.

Asanovic recently spoke of AfCON glory on national TV.

From his tone you can tell he is basing his hopes on these players – in fact the entire nation does.

So, are these the ones?

Lee Kawanu has massive experience in dealing with football at all levels. He deals and handles some of these talents and has a thing or two to say.

“The players that we have right now, the last team from the qualifications are the players that will gain enough experience to take us back to the glory days,” Kawanu says.

Kawanu is a also a former FAZ executive committee member, he headed the committee on youth football and was among the brains behind a program that identified these players – the Airtel Raising Stars.

In their last competitive match, Zambia had the likes of Toaster Nsabata in goal, guarded by a backline of Prosper Chiluya, Thandi Mwape, Dominic Chanda and Simon Silwimba.

In midfield, Emmanuel Banda partnered Dickson Chapa playing as defensive midfielders while Evans Kangwa, Sakala and Lubambo Musonda sat behind lone striker Daka.

Only four from the 2017 under – 20 team made it in the starting line – up in the game against Tunisia it could have been five or six if Mwepu and Chilufya were around.

“The core of the under – 20 team that won us the 2017 junior AfCON…that team has winning mentality all it needs is just to add some extra players from the generation that came afterwards,” Kawanu says.

However, it is difficult for coaches to base their hopes on that crop as few players are playing competitively. For those that have remained in the local league like Moses Nyondo, Solomon Sakala Chrispin Sakulanda and Mangani Banda among others, their development has stalled.

Kawanu however says the skeleton of the team is there and all Asanovic has to do is add some meat with the infusion of other players worth the shirt.

“With the coach that is there, if he looks around and can add some meat to the team, we can have a team that can compete and take us back to the glory days.

“The players I am talking about, Paston and Enock they still have about 10 years of playing at that high level, look at Emmanuel Banda players like that, they are focused,” Kawanu said.

He said Zambia need to knit a good defence and sort out the goalkeeping department and they would be good to go.

However, Munaile argues that there is still a long way to go.

“Having players that play in Europe accounts for a little percentage in determining the team’s success, in any case, those players have to play with others,” Munaile remarks.

This then shows that we have a problem in our hands, a complex one for that matter.

Despite being exposed to the best facilities in Europe, the Dakas and Mwepus still have to come and blend with locally-based players where conditions are modest.

The gulf between what locally based players are getting in terms of preparation and what those in Europe are getting is too big. This is posing a huge challenge.

Maybe the question should be what will it take for Zambia to regain its glory days, and not who will take Chipolopolo back there.

AfCON winning midfielder Isaac Chansa has an idea.

“We need consistency,” he says, “Consistency on the coaching bench and also the players that are being called to the national team.”

Chansa says Zambia has the players but what is lacking is a system and a culture.

“In our time, there was consistency from players. You need to play for years at the national team. That helps in building a strong team that can compete.

“What I have observed is that very few players last even a year at the national team because they are not consistent and this becomes a challenge,” he says.

Chansa says it takes a lot to win an AfCON and everyone involved should take stock of minor details that help in forming a competitive team.

So when will Zambia win the AfCON again?

“You have to qualify first before talking about winning it,” Manaile says.

And for Kawanu, it is hard to predict.

“Well, [sighs] that is not something that is easy to say, Morocco won in 1976, and they have been waiting for over 30 years and they are much more developed than us.

“How long it takes? It is not something that I can say, but if we do things that we need to do within Zambia then it gives us a bigger chance,” Kawanu says.

Winning the AfCON takes a lot of work, having players dotted around Europe is not enough. Ask the likes of Senegal who despite having a sea of players in Europe have never won the tournament until the recent edition in Cameroon.

For Chipolopolo to reach a point where it’s competing and thinking of winning the AfCON, people should be prepared to work.

[Mathews Kabamba, Zambia Daily Mail]