Zambia U17 National Team head coach Ian Bakala says his side is ready for the upcoming TotalEnergies U17 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) which kicks off tomorrow in Morocco.
Bakala’s side will kick off their campaign against Tanzania set for El Bachir Stadium in Mohammedia. The match will kick-off at 16h00CAT.
Bakala says his players are motivated and looking forward to the first game against the East African Nation.
The former Chipolopolo midfielder believes his side now has the necessary experience to fight and challenge for the Cup.
“We are motivated. Looking at Tanzania, they know how we play. We have the experience and it’s going to be a different world. We have prepared well and will not underrate them because they are a strong opponent. We know how they play, making this encounter difficult,” Bakala said.
“We have more potential to challenge for the Cup. I can assure you that we will have a good tournament. With the support received from the FA and the entire country, we are ready and you will see more talent.”
Bakala says the team has learned from past experience and this time around they will do better.
One of Zambia’s opponents in the group is Morocco, a team that thrashed them 5-0 recently in a friendly game but Bakala says that’s water under the bridge and is focused on the games ahead.
“This is different , we didn’t have an idea of how the tournament would go. It’s a big tournament. It’s different from the tournaments we played in Kosovo. Here you find that there are a lot of players in this tournament who are motivated to play in Europe. This time, I think we have an idea. We took our best players at the moment to come and compete. But our objective is to win the first game and wait for Morocco. But our concentration now is for the first game. That is history. We came for the first time as a coach here. But this is my second time,” he said.
“I think I’ve learned a lot from other countries. I think this time we’re going to do much better. The first thing is to take each game as it comes.”
“We didn’t have any experience before. It’s a big tournament. It’s totally different from the other tournaments which we regularly participate in, like the COSAFA. But now we have an idea of what we can expect. The first objective is to win the first game. Then we’re going to focus on Morocco,” he added.
Meanwhile striker Abel Salim Nyirongo said the first game was very important to determine the direction of the team in the tournament.
“The amount of belief that we have now will determine the results on that particular day. Again, our target is the first game. When we win the first game, it will clearly give us a road to our glory,” he said.
“I think it’s very good for us to push ourselves. It will help us to know where we’re going in this tournament,” he added.
Zambia is placed in Group A alongside Tanzania, Uganda, and hosts Morocco, with the top ten teams from the tournament earning automatic qualification to the 2025 FIFA U17 World Cup in Qatar.
