The unenviable prospect of missing out on an unprecedented third successive AFCON came to reality on Thursday night as Zambia was held at home by the African Champions Algeria .
Algeria stretched their unbeaten run to 25 games and are one away from equaling Ivory Coast’s record.
Below the ZamFoot Crew takes a look at how the Chipolopolo Boys fared against the North Africans.
Mwenya Chibwe 5/10 – Hard to blame him for the goals. His defense did not help him. He saved a stinging shot from Baghdad Bounedjah well and was quick off his line to aid his defense acting as a sweeper.
Luka Banda 3/10 – Looked the brighter of the three in what was a shambolic back three. Was good when he had his moments but had a hand in both the first and second goal. Denied by a good save from the corner
Kabaso Chongo 2/10 – Error prone skipper was back in the struggled to impose himself on the game and was being beaten with ease. Culpable for the second morale sapping goal when Zambia was pushing for the winner at 2 – 2. Amateurish that he threw himself at the striker like he did.
Adrian Chama -4.5- Disastrous first 30 minutes playing on the right side of the back three and Zambia only held on to the 19th minute thanks to the offside flag that was saving the situation. Easily nutmegged for the second goal and has to shoulder some blame for the first and third. He looked more comfortable playing in the back four.
Nathan Sinkala 3/10 – He has lost his mobility and hardly did anything of note in the 30 minutes he was on the pitch. He seemed to remain up the pitch even when disaster was looming in the box. Sacrificed for Rodrick Kabwe.
Benson Sakala 6/10 – Solid performance. Added the grit to the midfield but also used the ball very well picking his moments when to try a defense splitting pass or just being conservative with the ball.
Enock Mwepu -6/10 – The midfield maestro was lost in the middle of the pack. He looked dangerous when he had the space to operate in but he failed to dictate play or give Zambia the rythmn in the game.
Ghampani Lungu -5/10 – Bright through out the game even when he started as the right wing back. He looked the most likely to make something happen when the chips were down. However his decision making let him down in the final third.
Augustine Mulenga -5/10 – He had a very poor first half and looked lost in the game. He was live after the restart and caused the Algerian problems going forward. One bad pass when Zambia were through on goal on the counter attack will stand out but he atoned with an assist for the Clatoush Chama for the equalizer.
Patson Daka -7/10 – A tough evening for him as he was closely guarded. Showed nerves of steel to strike home two good penalties which gave the goalie no chance. He battled well alone upfront.
Substitutes
Lubambo Musonda -8/10 – Came on in the 3oth minute to play right back. He gave it his all. Defended well, sharp to sense danger and breakdown counter attacks, supported attack, took on defenders, tried his luck on goal and could have had an assist. Easily the man of the match for Zambia
Rodrick Kabwe -6/10 – A surprise that he did not start but brought a lot of balance to the left wing working it up and down. His took over set piece duty and his corners troubled the Algerian goal minder
Moses Phiri -6/10 – In for Ghampani Lungu. He was up for the fight and looked determined to get the result. He won the second penalty for Zambia
Spencer Sautu 6/10 – in for Augustine Mulenga. Slotted into right back position. Did not do much to influence the game.
Collins Sikombe -4/10 – Nothing to write home about
Coach Micho 5/10
His decision to go with a back three backfired terribly and it cost the team two goals. A bad decision to experiment with the stake so high. He was pragmatic with his decision making and picked the right subs that influenced the game positively. With a little bit of luck, he could have pulled a famous come-back but some individual errors by players are hard to mitigate. Unfortunately the tendency to start poorly and make changes seems to be a hallmark of his management and it caught up with him this time.
Poor analysis in this article
Adrian Chama was the chief culprit, Kabaso chongo panicked alot, midfield and frontline was okay, we need to find defenders, next match start with Kabaso, Roderick, lubambo and Thandi as the back four.
The coach Is Just okay but he should be quick to make changes.
Boss let us not make the mistake of firing the coach. What looked like the standard starting eleven was established later in the first half after the two substitutions. Let us build on that. The coach has never really had a fully fit team from the time he started his job. Let us concentrate on the upcoming World Cup qualifiers and prepare with our best team.
Looking at the positives.
Personally I think the coach and team did well overall to salvage a draw against , make no mistake, a superb Algerian team. these matches are a really blessing in disguise because there was nothing to lose- the ship had already sunk.
The coach will now know which of his defenders are fit for the future. Kabaso C , I think, still has a lot to offer but has to work on his temper and rash challenges. He escaped a red cad this time , so maybe that’s progress. Adrian Chama struggles at home and is always exposed by top opposition. The defense will improve with time and experience.
Looking at the player rating N Sinkala was disappointing which is surprising – he is still a top midfielder though.
Going forward Kalaba and Mayuka and Mweene are still playing and their experience against North African opposition (Tunisia) will be vital.
Also its been a while since we had guys like Ashios Melu , Kalusha Bwalya type who could score some elegant goals from free kicks…
Interesting game against Zim , wonder if there will be a change to the back line.
Why not nothing to lose.
The team did not qualify, which is terrible. However, they gave it all and I concur with both Kopala and GSK11, keep the coach, and build towards the world cup.
Keep the coach damage was made in Algeria and Zimbabwe beating us at home. We are building the team for wc now.the boys gave it all
Someone has to pay for making the mighty Chipolopolo fail to go to the Afcon for a 3rd consecutive time. Since I was born and since I fell in love with the copper bullets this has NEVER happened before. Someone somewhere should shoulder the blame. We cant go on like this, this is very painful more so that we even couldn’t be allowed to watch the game mu stadium. Nooooooooooooo me I will not allow to seat and watch people involved with football still get huge allowances yet cause so much pain to us who spend money on our beloved Chipolopolo and still go unpunished… Someone has to pay.
Unfortunately that time is gone. The current FAZ has a four year mandate. We just have to work with them because four years of antagonism will mean further failure. FAZ should limit the number of foreign players to three in every line-up at any time in the game. Our Bola nalesa boys failed to cement places in their respective clubs because of experienced players mostly foreign who have been preferred. This has stifled their development and has to be corrected. I would rather our clubs don’t do well in interclub competitions but develop our players. Previously we qualified for tournaments mostly using local players at the heart of our defence or combinations involving foreign and locally based players and we can do that again. We have the minimum requirements within our league to qualify for the AFCON. At the moment if we start looking for who to blame we will be going round in circles without any destination.
Time to call a spade a spade the coach is too small to coach zambia. He knows nothing about zambian football. And the assistant coach is very useless. Some of the player failed to performe because of the formation. I donot blame them for disappointing the nation i blame the coach. Kabaso looks dejected not jittery his relationship with the coach is not well. If micho is going to stay he should stop fighting players. What he did to the captain is not good. Kabaso is the best centre back and for he has no replacement.
I disagree with you the coach is very fine. About Kabaso I think he is very average player we have many defenders in schools who can do much better than him FAZ shoud also learn to arrange friendly matches for our team.
The goal keeper is good. Lubambo musonda, rodrick kabwe. Tandi mwape and kabaso. Should maintain back four.
I have always said it, coach not good enough for mighty chipolopolo, it will take you time to conquer with me, but in the end you will agree
We lost it against Botswana and Zimbabwe! Micho was new and at that time had very little knowledge of capabilities of our Zambian pro players. Yesterdays line up was ok except Chama and Sinkala. Going forward Kalunga, and Kangwa brothers & maybe Sunzu should be assessed by the national coach. Another matter to seriously sit down and review is the presence of substandard foreign players in our league. They are mainly stifling the emergence of youthful talent. Let’s keep the coach and Kamanga, the latters job made difficult by the ministry who delayed the engagement of the national coach for no apparent reason, except wanting their preferred “cadre” in Faz. As if that’s not enough the ministry almost scuppered the arrival of pros this time around by dilly dalling when it came to funds for air tickets.
Your comments are spot on. Faz should some how reign in the coach from easily getting antagonised by players! Look at the performance of triple- C, superb on the day. We could have picked easily 9 points from the Zim and Bots games, which scuppered qualification!
Ladies and Gentlemen our team is very ok from the mid to the front. Wat we are lacking is defense Kabaso can’t be a center back he has no stability, let him be on the wing. we need someone like Sunzu, Ziyo ad Solomon Sakala these are pipo who can play No5. Let defenders defend not mid fielders. Were is Emmanuel Mbola ad Shemmy. If we had deffenders those pipo couldn’t hve scored a single goal. Lets Keep the coach, but WADA was the best.
It’s not even fun teasing deluded Zambian fans again but I think it’s high time Zambia move from the 2012 winning squad. You had no business not qualifying for the U20. The core of this team should be the ones that played the U20 World Cup some few years ago. Micho is a good coach. Start something with him
Triple c?
Coach Micho is just fine in my view…so are the boys( except 2 or 3), but the rest, gave in their best! Emotions are high because we have yet again failed to qualify for the third consecutive time. Our failure didn’t come because of the draw,but it arouse the moment we lost the 2 important games against our close neighbors here.
Success comes with hardwork,I mean, thorough preparations. the Coach by now has established the best team, hence we give him time and support to instill cohesion and team work amongst the boys!
we will still fail to qualify for next outing if we keep on firing and hiring coaches.
Anytime I see that boy Adrian Chama play he costs Zambia important matches like Zambia/Nigeria at home in world cup qualifiers and now this match.
Kabaso is suspect
Its difficult to find defenders for the national team I the local league. If you have noticed most of the big clubs in Zambia have foreign talents doing defensive duties. You talk of Nkana, Power, lusaka dynamo, Zanaco, Forest rangers, buildon etc.
The other reason as to why Zambia’s football stagnant is the lack of letting in fresh blood. Have noticed that it’s difficult for young players to break into clubs.
The third reason is the over emphasis of technical approach to the game at the expense of individual skill and brilliance. So we basically have player who can not rise above board to help their country or team. Players who get stuck when challenged. That is in zambia most goals scored are out errors.
It’s all about preparatory matches, this defence system errors would have been noticed and averted if the team was given preparatory friendly matches prior to playing highly technical team like Algeria but poor administration was again exposed. Where on Earth do you experiment in a crucial tussle like that one?
I believe the refree was the best player
The man of the match.
Africa is always corrupted from head to toe
Dear Zambians Friends,
I personally do understand all your frustrations and disappointment! We’ve been through that. It is obvious the referee was generous with your team, two gifts/penalty kicks, I’m sure you all will agree wiht me, wihtout he’s gifts you would have lost. there is no chame on loosing at home, we did lost againts you back in 2017 and it was ok because you deserved it. we had a great time at the time but poor management. Best luck to Chipolopolo in WQ.
Algerian/Canadian from Ottawa. 🙂