Zambia’s opponents in Friday’s 2023 AFCON qualifier Ivory Coast will be without five players for the encounter.
The five players are suffering from illness or injury according to a statement from the Association which was accessed by the ZamFoot Crew.
The elephants will be without Manchester United defender Eric Bailly, Arsenal winger Nicolas Pepe and Burnley forward Maxwell Cornet.
Bayer Leverkusen centre-back Odilon Koussounou will also miss out together with Watford left-back Hassane Kamara who has been excused to take an academic examination.
“It should be noted that a few absentees due to injury or illness: Maxwell Cornet, Nicolas Pépé, Odilon Kossonou, Éric Bailly. Hassane Kamara, meanwhile, is absent for a school exam.”
To strengthen the team, Elephants coach, Jean Louis Gasset has summoned Emmanuel Agbadou (KAS Eupen), Kouassi Attohoula Yao (ASEC Mimosas), Oumar Diakité (Salzburg), and Anne Marie Nguessan.
The 2015 AFCON Champions started their preparations on Monday at Sol Beni, the Asec Mimosas training camp.
The Chipolopolo Boys take on the Elephants at the Stade de Yamoussoukro on Friday at 21:00 hours in their opening encounter for the 2023 AFCON qualifiers.
This Ivory Coat team is not as fearsome as the one we drew with at the afcon 2012. It had the likes of Drogba, the Toure brothers, a younger Max Gradel, Salomon Kalou, Gervinho. This one we are winning.