Chipolopolo assistant coach Perry Mutapa says the technical bench is happy with the fighting spirit they saw from the players, especially some who were just playing their second or third games for the National team.
The Chipolopolo Boys suffered narrow defeat to the Palancas Negras of Angola in a 5 five goal thriller on Tuesday.
However Mutapa who was standing in for Moses Sichone who was hospitalized due to suspected food poisoning believes the team will do well at the Africa Cup of Nations set to take place in Morocco next month.
“Thank you and again I should say thanks for inviting us for this crucial game. For us it’s an opportunity to see some players and today (Tuesday) from the last game we played on Saturday. We had maybe only three players who started the last game and for us I think most of them maybe are playing their second, some their first international games and to see that fighting spirit I think we are very delighted as the technical bench,” he said.
“Of course we know in terms of defending more especially in organization we didn’t do well yesterday we spent about two hours just to work on the organization especially knowing that Angola posed a great threat on set pieces. The first goal you could see unsettled us. Five minutes later, they scored through a set piece, a corner, a header and we didn’t pick the runners which unsettled us a bit. They came at us and we tried to get organized and we did that.”
“We got a goal again towards the critical moments of the first half which is the last five minutes of the game we conceded but come the second half I think we gave Angola a good run for their money. I think we scored the to make it 2-2 after that it was anybody’s game so for us I think it’s a more especially that we made a lot of changes to the team we are very delighted it’s a loss but building takes some time and going to the AFCON I think we believe we are going to do well,” he added
The Chipolopolo suffered a 3-1 defeat to Bafana Bafana before the 3-2 loss to the Palancas Negras however Mutapa is satisfied with what he saw from the new players who believes are going to make the nation great again in future.
“Yeah, negative results, but sometimes what is important is the performance. So for us, the defence, we made the whole back line, including the goalkeeper. No one played on Saturday, so we are trying to see young boys who are going to make the nation great again, and it’s satisfying, although in terms of organisation, we are still lacking, more especially in defence. But going forward, and the fight, we can see we are coming back, because in the last maybe 20, 15 minutes, we could see we are on top of the game, especially from the left side of Fashion Sakala and even the new entrants. We could have equalised, but the goalkeeper was also good for Angola,” he said.
Mutapa says the team want to go and make a mark at Africa Cup of Nations despite the current form.
“When we speak about building, we are speaking about today and tomorrow. So for us, this is a friendly game. We watched Angola play against Argentina. I believe Angola is also building. They lost the game, but there were a lot of positives. I watched the first half. I think Angola had some chances. They played well. But today, to go toe-to-toe with Angola and being a new technical team for Zambia, bringing in new players, I think we are going somewhere. When we talk about building, it doesn’t mean the next games you should be losing. No, no, no, no. We have seen something from Saturday’s game. Today, there is a big improvement in terms of the quality we have scored. In terms of being scored, we have conceded three goals, which is not good. So most importantly, we know where to work at, the organization in defense. So we are not going to go to Morocco to say we are building. We are going to Morocco to make a mark. So for us, this is a good team playing against Angola, which also gave us a good run. So it means we have seen where we need to patch up, and we’ll just do that. So going to the AFCON, we would like to make a good mark,” he said.
The TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), Morocco 2025 will take place between 21st December 2025 and 18th January 2026. Zambia is in Group A alongside hosts Morocco, West African giants Mali, and Comoros.
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