Chipolopolo coach Avram Grant says the ongoing Chipolopolo camp is focusing on giving players who do not have enough game time at their clubs the fitness they need ahead of the continental showpiece.
A number of Chipolopolo key players have not had enough game time at club level in the last three months.
The Israeli gaffer went on to reveal that only players that will prove that they can contribute to the team will book a ticket to the Africa Cup of Nations. .
The former Chelsea boss is also aware of the fact that Zambia is currently a Pot 3 side and needs to work extra hard to compete with teams above them.
“The training camp is to check the new players if they can add something to our set up. The profile of our team has players who don’t feature for their clubs, I don’t like it but that’s what we have. We also have players who finished their season hence we need to give them the fitness side. Our target is to go to the AFCON when at 100 percent. This is part of our preparations. As you can see we called more players than we usually do. We want to try and test as many players as we can. The players who will go to AFCON will be those that will prove they can make a contribution to the team because we have a very tough group,” he said.
“We will not forget that we are Pot 3 in Africa. Our target is to improve, we made a lot of progress this year and we have to continue with this.”
“First we don’t have a choice, We don’t have time. We will continue preparing in Saudi Arabia. We will have more time to prepare ourselves. We will do everything we can,” he added.
After the local camp coach Avram Grant will announce the squad of at least 27 players that will go to Saudi Arabia for the international camp next week.
While in Saudi Arabia, the Chipolopolo will play two international friendly matches against Cameroon and a yet to be confirmed opponent.
“Am not sure we will take 27 players, We will take up to 27, but I have not made a decision yet. There is no big difference between the players who we have who play and those who don’t play except in a few positions. The games we will have is to test tactics and a few things. These games are very important to us,” Grant told the ZamFoot Crew.
“Saudi Arabia is because of the good facilities. It needs to be a place with good weather for us to train twice a day to put the team in the highest level because we are competing against very good teams. We need to be in the high level of performance and preparation physically and mentally. The camp will be good for us, I don’t care where as long as they have good facilities.”
“I can’t call 55 players for Camp, I can not even make a 55 Provisional Squad but I was forced by CAF to do it, I don’t think it’s good. We are doing a camp to see the players and give fitness to those who need it. I will only speak about those who are here and the players here have a chance to make the final squad,” he added.
The Chipolopolo are in Group F alongside Congo DR, Morocco, and Tanzania.
Zambia’s first match is on January 17 against Congo before playing Tanzania four days later.
The final group match will be against Morocco on January 24.
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