Chipolopolo Boys coach Sven Vandenbroeck has said that he left out influential midfielder Enock Mwepu from his starting line up because the RB Salzburg player only ‘travelled on Monday’.
Many Chipolopolo fans expressed their frustrations at the Belgian coach over the omission of Mwepu and red hot Zesco United striker Lazarours Kambole .
“I did not use him (Mwepu) from the start because he travelled on Monday that is one small reason, he came on later than the other boys but also because of the artificial turf,” he said.
Vandenbroeck emphasised that two factors [joining camp on Monday plus artificial turf) were considered for Mwepu.
Analysis: Patson Daka [Mwepu’ s clubmate] who also arrived on Monday was more adapted to playing on an artificial turf than the boy from Chambishi.
With Zambia trailing the Brave Warriors, Vandenbroeck introduced Mwepu in the 82nd minute and the game changed in favour of the 2012 African Cup of Nations.
The introduction of Mwepu brought purpose and urgency to the team and Zambia could have a penalty which the referee didn’t award.
Zambia finally got an equaliser thanks to a Justin Shonga to keep alive of their chances of qualifying to Cameroon 2019 African Cup of Nations.
Attention now shift to Tuesday’s international friendly against Gabon in Libreville.
It will be interesting to see if the 20 year old will return to the starting line up on Tuesday.
Very lame excuse. How did Mwepu manage to play in those last 10mins he was put in. The problem here is the coach needed this Gabone friendly before the Namibia game. This coach does not know the players yet. He needs more friendly games to know his players very well.
This guy is from Belgium, is there a way he can help the finished Charlie Musonda boys change to Zambian players? They failed to make it into Belgium national team.
Zambia has the dual citizenship thing.
Thats a diplomatic defensive mechanism. In his next assignment he should call up e. Kangwa e banda, e chilufya, donnashona malama, ziyo and b mwila to strengthen the team.
We are back were we started from.lame excuse Mr Sven pardon and mwepu arrived on the same day,same plane yet mwepu was not ready.number two the most inform striker is kambole yet he did not make the bench.three Solomon was our weakest link in defense,if I was coach I can play Kamado as right back and use siamujopa in central defence.left full back Roderick kabwe is better because he offers us more going forward..kalaba awe napwa start using mwepu or better triple c.your stay might be short than you think if you continue if the nonsense we so.namibia were up for a beating.
This is always the problem of bringing in coaches at the last minute. Chambeshi should have continued after the COSAFA while Sven could have come in as Chambeshi’s understudy until we went to AFCON 2019. Then he could have taken charge.
The take over should have been gradual. But since it wasn’t he needed some friendlies, not just the upcoming one with Gabon, it isn’t enough. These guys are white, but they are not magicians. I said once before I say it again, FAZ can easily organise friendlies with the foreign legion currently plying their trade in Zambia. We have numerous players from Congo, from Zim, From East Africa and all can’t these form national teams to play competitive friendlies with Zambia? Promise them citizenship and a place in the Chipolopolo and you will see, their quality.
The guy is very new and was thrown at the deep end. Sometime it works sometime it doesn’t and the guy may drown.
The performance was not bad but it could have been better. My view is:
Central Defense – Kabaso was excellent. Sunzu does not bring his A game for Zambia anymore he was okay but was beaten a few times.
Full backs – Chungu was excellent. Solomon Sakala was jittery. This was his first senior game so its understandable. He needs more games. For the next game we need experience therefore Silwimba should be brought back.
Central midfield – Solid job defensively for both Nathan and Salulani. Except they need to include an incisive forward pass in their system once in while. they play too laterally.
Attacking midfield – Kalaba was okay but he needed to be more incisive going forward. Did not look comfortable in a position we all know is meant for Enoch Mwepu.
Forwards – Augustine and Fashion had to backtrack to cover the full-backs therefore were not as effective going forward. Both should have done better when in good positions. Patson ran well but could have been better. Was our best forward player on the pitch otherwise.
Summary
We have a good team. The only changes i would make for the next game would be removing:
Solomon Sakala, Rainford Kalaba and maybe Fashion Sakala to reduce pressure on the boy. The other guys were okay. For these guys i would play – Silwimba, Mwepu, and Lubambo. Shonga, Kambole and Fashion would be the game changers.
How about Emmanuel Mbola’s explaination? What is he hiding?