Chipolopolo Boys forward Fashion Sakala has described the upcoming two international friendly matches against Bafana Bafana of South Africa and the Palancas Negras of Angola as ‘very important’ for the Copper Bullets.
Sakala is happy with the test the Chipolopolo Boys will get against the World Cup bound Bafana Bafana who he says are a very good team.
The Al Fahya forward says this is the beginning of preparations for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations for the Chipolopolo Boys.
“Yeah, these games are very important for us. I think they’re very, very good for our preparations for the Africa Cup. And when you look at South Africa, it’s a very good team. They have a very good team and they qualify for the World Cup. So I think it’s a very good country to play against. I think it will be a very tough game. But looking at the team, I think the coach selected very good players and we are ready to perform,” he said.
“They’re very important games. For me, I think the first preparation for the Africa Cup has started today. So not only looking towards the games, but I think each and every training for us is a very important preparation.”
“And I think looking at what we did today in training, you can tell that each and every player is ready to fight for the position and obviously to fight for the final squad, for the Africa Cup squad. I can see that each and every player is fighting and we have a very good team. Looking forward to the games, obviously, it’s very important. What we want is to play games. It will help us a lot in terms of fitness. But I think we are very much ready and we really appreciate getting these two friendly games,” he added.
Sakala has revealed that he is having good conversations with the new members of the squad just to help them settle, make them feel at home and welcomed by the senior players.
The former Rangers forward is adamant that Chipolopolo has a good squad despite their recent poor results.
“Obviously, looking at a few players, it’s their first time to come to the national team. It was once like them. I was welcomed with senior players and yeah, just having very good conversation with them to make sure that they feel comfortable. They feel welcomed by the senior players. And you can see that they’re very comfortable. We are chatting, they’re training so well. So it’s a very good start. And I’m very happy personally to have them in the squad,” he said.
“Yeah, I think the most important thing is to make sure that we stay fit. And obviously these two games are very important and we’ll be able to evaluate ourselves, how good we are as a team. But I can tell that we have a very good team, even though the past few games we lost, but our team is very good. And, you know, there are some shuffles, new changes in the technical stuff, but we are very much ready for the game and that the technical staff is very, very excited for the games.”
The TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), Morocco 2025 will take place between 21st December 2025 and 18th January 2026. Zambia is in Group A alongside hosts Morocco, West African giants Mali, and Comoros.
Sakala feels the opening two games at the continental showpiece will be important for Chipolopolo before they face 2022 World semifinalists, Morocco in the final group game.
“Yeah, obviously, I remember we played against Mali. We played against Morocco. And for me, it’s a 50-50 game to be fair. We have the chance. We have the chance. Obviously, I think against Morocco, it will be our last game. So for us, the most important games are the first two games, Comoros and Mali. So we are very excited for these two games because they’ll be able to give us the chance to either qualify to the next stage or not,” he said.
“Yeah, the most important thing is we don’t stop dreaming. It’s very important for us as a nation to keep dreaming until one day we qualify to the World Cup, of course. But the most important thing for us, we have the Africa Cup at hand. And I think our focus is on the Africa Cup. I think we have to make sure that we prepare. Well, the next two games that we are playing. And obviously, I think the administration will prepare a few friendly games before we go to the Africa Cup, which I believe will be a very good preparation for us. But, you know, we can only ask the fans to keep supporting us. You know, I think we have a very good team. We need their support like never before. And I know that they are always there for us. You know, even if we lost some games, our stadiums, you know, they’re always full, you know, so people love football and they’re always there to support us. We appreciate that. And we want to go with them to South Africa, Angola and even to the Africa Cup as well in Morocco. It’s a very good thing, to be fair,” he added.
On the new all local technical bench, Sakala feels they deserve their chance and says there is a template of other teams who have done the same in the past and done really well.
“You know, they deserve the chance. We’ve seen some countries that have appointed their local coaches and they’ve done well. So I think local coaches deserve their chances, too. And also they interact with the players. You know, we speak our language. You know, English is very difficult. Chimativutako chizungu, So we really like to interact in our language, and I’m sure it’s a very good chance also for the local coaches,” he said.
Zambia and South Africa will lock horns on Saturday at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha at 15h00 before the Chipolopolo can proceed to Luanda to face the Palancas Negras on 18th November.
