The Chipolopolo boys got down to business at their new base in Buea with their first training session at Molyko Omnisports Stadium.
Coach Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic led his charges in a late afternoon session after having arrived in Beau on Wednesday night from Douala.
The 28-member team is zeroing in on preparations for the tournament that kicks off on Saturday with the host Cameroon facing Zimbabwe.
Zambia became the first team in their group to arrive in Beau with Namibia, Tanzania and Guinea expected to complete the Group D teams that will be based the South West region.
The Chipolopolo played Libya at the Japoma Stadium Annex on Wednesday afternoon in their final preparation match that ended 1-1.
Prior to the game against Libya Zambia participated in a Four Nation Pre-CHAN tournament where they drew 3-3 with Niger before losing 2-0 to Uganda. The final group match was a 2-0 triumph over Cameroon which lifted them to second position at the close of the tournament.
Zambia opens its account week on Tuesday with a tie against Tanzania before facing Guinea four days later.
The final group match will be against Namibia on January 27.
The boys should be committed and work as a team. They should be able to read the game as it progresses and if the coach’s tactics are not working, don’t wait till half time to be told to change the mode of play. Just inform one another and switch to another mode. What we need are wins. Avoid the habit of passing the ball to the goalkeeper unless it is absolutely necessary. Equally important, avoid playing in our 18 yard area. Attack and attack till the other team cracks and no entertaining football after scoring. If need be make history of scoring 30 goals in one game. At the end of the day in these group stages goals come to a team’s rescue. I LOVE MY TEAM, CHIPOPOPOLO!! I am going to be watching you on KBC 1 on Zuku Tv. I had to re-subscribe in order to be able to watch my lovely boys since other platforms are not showing CHAN matches.