THE Chipolopolo find themselves in a precarious position of needing to beat Mozambique to qualify as a defeat would end Zambia’s hopes of making it to the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals.
With the Confederations of Africa Football (CAF) still trying to find an alternative venue after Morocco pulled out due to the deadly Ebola outbreak in some West African countries, Zambia joins the big names like Ivory Coast, Nigeria who are desperate to clinch qualification.
Precarious position in that a defeat will end Zambia’s bid to secure qualification and might be left to fight for the mathematically third place position which should not become a reality owing to the Chipolopolo failure to win their opening three matches.
According to the CAF qualifying rules, head-to-head will be applied in an event there is a tie between two qualifying countries and this can come into play for both Mozambique and Zambia.
Thus the winner of tomorrow’s qualifier at the Estadio Zimpeto in Maputo will have an edge over the other in the race to win second place behind winners Cape Verde, who are likely to top the group with a win over Niger.
This complicated scenario thus puts the Chipolopolo in a must-win situation heading into tomorrow’s match at the intimidating stadium.
Coach Honour Janza has declared his side ready for battle despite missing Stopilla Sunzu through injury but there was some good news in camp after goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene was declared fit for the match.
It will now be upon Janza to find a nice blend among the experienced and upcoming local players that have continued to impress in the league week-in-and-out as he searches for his first away win.
Janza has in the past come under heavily criticism for picking ‘old and tired’ legs at the expense of the fresh players who have the hunger and desire to go far in their careers.
And he heeded those calls by dropping the likes of Jacob Mulenga, Christopher Katongo among the big name casualties.
Janza brought in Evans Kangwa, who is doing well in Israel, Lubambo Musonda who leads three of his triumphant Under-20 squad that, on its way to securing qualification to the Senegal 2015 Africa Youth Championship, beat Mozambique 2-0 away and at home to record a 4-0 aggregate win.
Zambia should hope to do its own job against Mozambique and hope that Niger does them a favour by beating Cape Verde to have a chance of winning the group ahead of Wednesday match at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola.
Good luck Zambia. For comments: eliaschipepo@gmail.com