With Nigeria having inflicted a 4 – 0 defeat on second placed Cameroon the point tallies now stand as follows:
Nigeria 9
Cameroon 2
Zambia 1
Algeria 1
And it clearly is no rocket science that Zambia’s improbable qualification is contingent on hopes that the teams above will in a precipitous manner capitulate their strong position while Zambia freely racks up points.
Given how the odds are stacked, does the technical Bench still go for the ‘hail Mary’ and put their best efforts in winning the two fixtures against Algeria with their best possible team at the moment, or does the technical bench throw in the towel on the 2018 World Cup Qualification campaign by investing experience in what they believe will be the 2019-21 AFCON Team and the 2022 World Cup Qualification team?
Allowing the next competition team to start their assembly and development from these fixtures would be invaluable experience that will show all the players what level they will be required to be at for the next tournaments.
It’s a position the Zambia National team must work to never be in again at such a stage on a qualifying campaign. Control over Zambia’s fate was lost an could be unrecoverable by the next round of fixtures should Nigeria win away from home as they did at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola.
Which then again leaves the question.
Does Zambia hold out ridiculous hope or does Zambia move on and begin to work towards the next competitions and qualification rounds?
Decisions decisions.
