Zambia U-20 national team boss Chisi Mbewe lamented his players Intelligence in comparison to their opponents following Monday’s disastrous exit from the ongoing U-20 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.
The Young Chipolopolo Boys were handed a 2-1 defeat by Tunisia dumping them out of the Competition with just a point to their name after three games.
Mbewe said his players had a lower Intelligence Quotient in comparison to their opponents who had players from Europe.
“The Intelligence Quotient (IQ) of some of my players was lower than that of the opponents we were facing, if you look at our opponents they all had players based in Europe,” Mbewe said.
“This is a disappointing result for me and my team, we really wanted to win this match and qualify for the quarter finals,” he added.
Tunisia beat Zambia 2-1 in Cairo to qualify to the quarter-final phase of the TotalEnergies U-20 Africa Cup of Nations on Monday.
Both Zambia and the Young Carthage Eagles came into the decisive match needing to win to secure their place in the last eight of the tournament.
Goals from Jibril Othman and Mohamed Dhaoui on either side of Kingstone Mutandwa equaliser was enough to send Tunisia through in second place behind leaders Gambia while Benin finished third and Zambia bowed out as the bottom team.
Only Faz couldn’t call European players for u20 . Why ? I need some education for that
And what is that IQ level? You mean to tell me you can’t teach football basics and now we need Europe based players at youth level. and not all teams there have Europe based players.vL All the teams have local based players. I blame the coach on tactics and selection.
If at U20 you can’t defend, can’t anticipate the bounce of the ball and you jump before ball bounces.this caused the second goal for Tunisia. The players must learn to attack the ball, learn to trap the ball, learn to run off the ball, learn to pass, learn to shoot, chest control…manage a game, positional sensibility ll for in- field and out-field players.
Zambian players must play for each minute and not go to a match thinking they are the best and looking to qualify to a World Cup without putting in maximum effort. The players must learn to fight for the ball, support player on ball…I feel these players were thinking Europe contracts before the tournament.
They must be educated and managed to cool their expectations and told that everything depends on team performances. They have now missed a good opportunity to elevate their careers because they could not do the basic things well.
Agreed sharp bongo bongo
The IQ of the coach himself is very low! Two weeks after consecutive loses to Nigeria and Senegal U20 teams, he told the whole world that his boys were ready for the tournament, when infact he didn’t even have a goal-keeper. That goal-keeper was clueless about why he was in the goal! His inertia contributed to all the goals that they conceded at the tournament! The defence was porous, mid field was non existent! And then there was that jersey number 20 who was always a passenger but was never substituted, he reminded me of that Mulenga who once played for Zambia and was a professional in China, who was always ikula but strangely coaches saw something in him which we the fans could not see! The strike force is one of the most blunt have ever seen in a Zambian national men’s soccer team! Congratulations for being eliminated early otherwise South Sudan would have made minced meat of those guys! With that team as under 20, Zambia men’s soccer has no future for the next 5 years! Sad!
The best players were left behind! Why? The academies had planned to expose their players to European scouts but the plot backfired! Kamanga must wake up from slumber….People have lost confidence in him! Football admin is not just about
good accounting for Kwachas.
The Coach was clueless himself. Please bring a Coach who will choose a team on merit and not be dictated by Academy owners. PLEASE NEVER GAUGE your strengths according to COSAFA victories.
Every time we have gone to the U20 World Cup we have built a strong seniour National team, Team of 2007 S.Sunzu, Nyambe Mulenga, Clifford Mulenga… were part of African CUP winning team (though the later was expelled) and E.Mwepu. PD20, Edgar Chilufya, E.Banda, F.Sakala class of 2017.
We will have a huge void after the last names retire unless the u17’s don’t make the same mistakes made by Chris Mbewe and FAZ.