Green Eagles head coach Aggrey Chiyangi says the focus of the team now is being positive ahead of this afternoon’s clash against Cotton Sport of Cameroon.
Chiyangi has revealed that his team is targeting an early goal to unsettle Cotton Sport. Chiyangi has also hinted at possible ‘mind games’ from the hosts but says his technical bench had already psyched the players before their trip to Cameroon.
“Yes, the bad thing is that we lost the home game 2-0 but again we really have to keep our hopes very high because in football everything is possible. All that we have to do here is be positive in our minds and be focused and also to make sure that every player is motivated and very positive to see the game as a different game and also to look at getting a goal as early as we can to make sure we unsettle them and then fight for the second goal that will make a difference. So far we are happy with the attitude of the players, very positive, and also the team spirit is very high and we believe that this will continue up to the time that we play the game,” Chiyangi said.
“Exactly like you have said, they are so many things we have experienced from the time that we arrived. The only positive thing is that we started enlightening our players before we came. When are arrived here I think they have experienced one or two things which they have seen that these are things that when you put to your mind then it will affect you negatively. We have spoken to them, we have said you see you have to understand why have we come here. We have come here not to complain about anything but we have come here to focus on the game, to play the game. Regardless of what is happening.”
“The good thing about it all is we traveled safely from Lusaka where we started our journey via Ethiopia to the final destination which is Garoua. So far everything is going on well. We have been accommodated and yesterday in the afternoon we had a session at one of the pitches here and then today we will be doing our final session at the main ground which will be good for the players to see and also feel the pitch where we are playing tomorrow (today),” he added.
The former Sensational Zanaco gaffer told the ZamFoot Crew that they analyzed the game in Lusaka and have picked up loopholes that are in the Cotton Sport team. He went on to say that his team needs to be very tactical in this game.
“In the first place I know that people always talk about the best defense is attack but you see in football you cannot attack if you don’t have the ball, how do you get the ball? It’s by defending when you defend that’s when you attack so for us it’s a simple principle we will attack when we have the ball and we will defend when don’t have the ball because we have to be very very tactical and technical in this game. We are not playing a team that has got no experience, we are playing a team that has so much experience in this tournament and they know before we played them they didn’t know anything about Green Eagles but looking at the game we played in Lusaka you could tell that they had the information about the team which has put us in a 50-50 situation because we also know their strengths and insight in their team, that this is where they are weak. Tomorrow’s game is going to be different because even from the point of the players you can see that they were not happy about the result,” He said.
“Yes immediately after the game that we played in Lusaka against Cottonsport we had to sit down with the team and we analyzed the game and also we spoke about the weak points and also the strong points. When we played that game in Ndola against Indeni it was good that before we traveled here those things happened so that it will help us also to make it clear to the players that despite the going down 2-0 if only we can work extra hard then we can make the difference and that is what we are hoping for. Just like the last time in Zambia, I spoke about working with the whole team not only concentrating on the striking force but trying to work with the whole team starting from the goalkeepers in defense, midfield and strikers so that in all the areas we don’t leave any stone unturned. We make sure that the whole team is compact and that is what we are hoping for.”
“It is a very big mountain to climb but in football, the way it is not only in football but in life the challenges that come shape you for the future and this is a mountain that will shape Green Eagles for the future. It is a big mountain but it’s very possible for us to achieve because in football you don’t play with superhuman people you play with normal human beings just like they can make mistakes we can also make mistakes but we are hoping in this game that we are going into our mistakes will be veth few and we want to capitalize on their mistakes because we saw they have a very good team especially like from midfield going upfront, they play well but in defense, they are so many loopholes that we can take advantage of. The only thing is that we have to encourage our strikers that every chance we create if only we can score then it will make a difference and that is what we are hoping to see tomorrow,” he added.
Chiyangi says they only asking for the best from the players but they won’t put them under pressure.
“Result in Lusaka now they want to push more into this game to make sure that they do their best and that’s what we have been asking from the players. All we are saying to them is that they give us the best,” he said.
We don’t want to put pressure on them which can disturb them we want them to be more focused, be serious but at the same time not to be swallowed by pressure.
Delegation leader, Kabaso Kapambwe reassured the Kawale Boys of support from the association from the final as they have faith in the team. Kapambwe went on to talk about the hostility that the team is experiencing in the West African nation.
“The stay has been ok though it has been a long journey taking 3 days when you travel on a one way it is quite challenging and if you are coming to a place like this is hot, and it’s far, it’s quite difficult but finally thank God we have arrived safely and everyone is ok. Obviously it’s an uphill battle trying to reverse a 2-0 home loss away and obviously in a hostile place like West Africa, it’s always known but football is always played on the pitch. We believe if it wasn’t to be, they would have been confirmed total winners but for now, we still have an equal chance,” he said.
“We played the first half back home in the double leg so we still have a chance in the second half that we have to play in the 90 mins in Cameroon. It’s looking very encouraging. As the football association, we have faith in the teams that we have sent in the champions league and Confederations cup and we will rally behind them until the lady whistle,” he added.
Meanwhile, captain of the side Ceasor Haakaloba is confident his side can score goals away and turn the tie in their favor.
“The morale in camp is very high and we know what is ahead of us, the targets that we have for this game, so we are here to win. If they can score at home 2 goals why not for us to score even more than that. Because our main aim is to reach the group stage so the morale in the camp is very high,” he said.
Green Eagles and Cotton Sport will clash in a Total 2020/2021 CAF Confederations Cup, First Round, Second Leg match this afternoon, Kickoff is set at 15:30 hrs local time (16:30 hrs- Zambian time) at the Stade Omnisports de Rounde- Adja.
