Chipolopolo winger Fashion Sakala says the Chipolopolo Boys are eying qualifying to the knockout stage as their first target at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.
The Al Fahya forward says the players are ready to fight at the continental showpiece and that preparations have been going very well.
Sakala believes the Chipolopolo Boys have a very good team that will compete at the AFCON in Morocco.
“The preparations are going well. I think the team looks good. I can tell that each and every player is ready to fight for the position. So yeah, they are going very well. and I think we are ready to fight,” Sakala said.
“Yeah, it’s very important. Obviously, I think our preparation started when we had those two friendly games we played against South Africa and Angola. So as we are going to Spain, obviously it’s important because we are getting closer to the Africa Cup. But I think I can tell that even now as we are still here, the team looks very good. The preparations are going so well.”
“For us, we only have one goal. The first target that we have is obviously to get to the next stage. I think the group stage is very important for us and we just want to qualify for the next stage. And that’s the target for now. That’s the language that we have in the team,” he added.
Zambia is in Group A together with Mali, Comoros and hosts Morocco and Sakala expects tough matches but he feels the team will put up a good fight.
Sakala feels Chipolopolo have some exciting young unknown talents that are ready to cause upsets and surprises at the tournament.
“Yeah they are tough games obviously but we know what we can do. We have a very good team a team of young players and we look very confident to be honest i can tell that the game we played against Angola for me that game gave me confidence that we actually have a very good team to fight in the the Africa Cup,” he said.
“I think the most important thing is to build a very good team that will be ready to compete in the Africa Cup. But these two Fendu games, they’re very important for us. I think this is the time for us to test our team, how ready we are. But I can tell that we are very much ready. The team looks very good.”
“Yeah, I think for me that Africa Cup that we played last time, I think it was more like a wake up call because a lot of players, it was our first time to play in such a big tournament. But I know that now, I think we are very much ready. We know what we expect in the Africa Cup. We know how tough it is, but I think we have a very good team to fight. We have players that are not known and ready to make some surprises,” he added.
Zambia will open their campaign against Mali and Sakala says they are taking that game very seriously as it will shape their campaign.
“To be honest I think all the teams are tough but I can tell you that we have a very good team ready to compete. I think we are going to fight against each and every team. For us the first game is very important and that’s when we are going to see if we can proceed in the next stage but I know for sure that the team will fight against Mali in our first game. We’re very much ready for that game,” he said.
