… We Were Poor On & Off The Pitch
… Tough Decisions & Radical Changes Will Define A Better Future
… President Hichilema Must Advise His Brother In Law Machacha Shepande To Vacate FAZ Post As General Secretary
While Chipolopolo interim coach Moses Sichone was exposed as technically & tactically inept, the FAZ Secretariat headed by Machacha Shepande, equally supervised an embarrassing – a total joke – of an outing that has brought the FAZ Executive Committee into ridicule and cast shame on all of us who supported the election of Keith Mweemba as the association president.
Note that I am not trying to apportion blame on anyone. But I also want to take responsibility and as someone who discusses issues of public interest openly, I must be candid enough to state this was one of the most unpleasant way to take a team to the premier continent soccer tournament.
My views have been submitted to the ExCo so I will not delve into greater detail of the nitty gritty of what happened. But it was overrall embarrassing and shameful to be associated with our national team brand – Chipolopolo. And it’s my hope that the FAZ ExCo will immediately redeem the country from this episode. This mess must be corrected without any delay.
OUR INEPTITUDE ON THE PITCH
When Moses Sichone was appointed, I had my reservations. Well, I am not an appointing authority so my reservations were just mine.
And when I made inquiries from authorities responsible for this decision, they were of the view it would be suicidal to completely overhaul the technical bench. They had a point – continuity was a factor. Still, I thought a local coach with traceable experience was a better fit for what would have been a temporary outing.
One consolation was the composition of the technical bench with relatively young Zambian coaches. I thought this was an opportunity for local coaches to prove themselves.
Seeing Andrew Sinkala return this time as an assistant capacity was a joy. He served Chipolopolo with distinction in his playing career. Noel Mwandila and Perry Mutapa were also good additions. The most impressive appointment for me was Kennedy Mweene as goalkeeper coach. Joseph Musonda, too, is a workaholic and such is the energy needed at this level. As a physical trainer, he is one candidate the association should invest in by exposing to the academic side of the trade.
On the pitch, Sichone’s inexperience and immaturity was laid bare. Rather than deploy a possession type of play that is synonymous to Zambian football, he went with the same conservative defensive approach which Avram Grant faithfully used. While this can win you some games and get results in certain instances, technically superior sides have a way of making a meal off us. And Morocco did capitalize on this. Against Mali, Sichone wanted to counterattack a team that was fluid in possession. Here is the biggest challenge – we don’t have swift wingbacks. And a good coach would avoid such risky tactics. We breathed a sigh of relief walking out with a point after a Patson Daka late equalizer against Mali. In a match we should have won against Comoros, Sichone again opted to defend. To make matters worse, our wingers were not efficient so was the central midfield. No change in tactics.
Against Morocco, the moment I saw the line up, I knew we were in for disaster. How do you defend for 90 minutes? Seven of the 10 infield players were defensive minded. What was Sichone doing? Was he thinking?
The final result of the match answered the questions. As if his poor tactics were not enough, each time he opened his mouth at the press conference, his foot was on his throat. First, he had a go at Zambian fans needlessly describing them as ‘Facebook coaches’ who should “shut up”. As if that was not enough, he again picked another unnecessary duel with his captain Fashion Sakala after protesting his substitution.
Evidently, Sichone’s emotional intelligence shows how immature he is to handle the national team. I was forced to look at his CV. And it confirmed one thing – the man is too inexperienced for the job. Apart from being an assistant to Avram Grant, Sichone does not have top flight coaching credentials. He is an average former Chipolopolo defender with little or nothing to show to deserve the job.
It explains how the head coach, instead of mourning Chipolopolo’s elimination, would sneak out of team camp for some outing to Marrakech for some escapades unrelated to the reason he was in Morocco. Such conduct is clear reason why Sichone has no place in the Chipolopolo set up, particularly as head coach. In any case, this would be an opportunity for him to go and get his CAF A licence. He had the tools (players) which could have even forced a quarterfinal place but failed to effectively apply them. Instead of using the tournament as an opportunity to even expose young players, he was not brave enough to explore. The biggest problem was off the pitch.
Augustine Mukoka
