Comoros boss Younes Zerdouk says his team his under pressure to deliver and take them back to Africa’s Premier show piece following their debut appearance.
The Coelacanths were Africa Cup of Nations debutantes at the Cameroon 2021 tournament and reached the last 16.
The Frenchman of Moroccan descent is aware of Zambia’s pedigree in the tournament but he is confident of his teams preparation ahead of tomorrow’s match.
“We planned for the two matches, despite winning the first match we also did the same preparation for the second,” he said.
“Zambia has a big past with AFCON as they won it some years ago. We played the AFCON last year so we have a lot of pressure since the People of Comoros want their team to go back to the tournament.”
“Every player has talent, I know a lot about how talented African players are,” he added.
Zerdouk believes that his team is focused on the match and will execute their game plan well against the 2012 AFCON Champions.
“We have worked hard for many years, We are focused on how we have to play and how we must play then we will see tomorrow,” he said.
“The Stadium is beautiful and we are happy to play here.”
“We are really focused on how we have to play, our identity. The team is a group of brothers and they have to show that on the pitch,” he added.
Meanwhile Left-back Chaker Alhadhur who rose to prominence when he stepped up to play in goal for Comoros in their Africa Cup of Nations last-16 tie against Cameroon has expressed happiness with the reception the Zambians have given them.
Alhadhur expects a tough match tomorrow but says his team is well prepared for the match.
“We are really happy to be here, We have been welcomed well. We happy that we won against Lesotho because it was a difficult match. We know that tomorrow will be a hard match and we are prepared for that , we hope we will get some points,” he said.
“We have a good vibe in the team, we are brothers like the coach said. We are a family.”
The Copper Bullets suffered a 3-1 loss at the hands of the Elephants on Match Day One of the Ivory Coast 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers while Comoros beat Lesotho 2-0.
The Chipolopolo Boys will host Comoros tomorrow at the National Heroes Stadium.
Tickets for Tuesday’s match are on sale across Shoprite outlets via Computicket with prices ranging from K50-K200. Kickoff is at 18:00 hours CAT.
As a team if you cannot beat Comoros or any team in this group at home then why go to the AFCON?
Ba FAZ with their President have done their best, now its up to the biys to do their job.
Very good comment indeed, my observation to current players is that they do not care either win or lose.
They do not have the country at heart like West a d North African Teams.
From 2004 to 2012, 90% were local players and we used to qualify for every tournament. (may be the inlux of foreign players has an effect on on the performance of local players)
Football player and is all about expirence and if zambia can just forgive the likes of rainford kalaba and other players am sure zambia may become a difficult team to win even the very goal keeper has no match to Kennedy mwene so even if we qualify these players will be defeated tactical and sycologically ,north and west Africa have stupid player’s bt forgive them,in Europe even players that chew by fellow players are forgiven