The Very First Chipolopolo Training Session Is Conducted By Grant
Zambia kicked up their preparations for the 2023 African Cup of Nations qualifier against Lesotho on Tuesday, the same day that new head coach Avram Grant held his first training session in Lusaka since being appointed.
Over the holiday season, Grant was given the position of coach for Zambia, and he has spent the past three months monitoring his players both in Zambia and elsewhere.
The contest will take place at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola on March 23 with a kickoff time of 18:00.
To this point, Grant has only revealed the names of the 27 members of his home-based team that participated in Tuesday’s training, while the members of the international call-ups have not yet been made public.
Grant remarked that “this is a terrific group,” but that “I wanted to see them in training for myself.”
Because they represent both the present and the future of this nation, it is incumbent upon them to demonstrate that they are worthy of leadership roles.
“In order to meet my expectations, they will need to demonstrate a high level of motivation and display quality.”
“In my life, I want to win, and my goal here is to win games, even though it’s possible that we won’t win all of the games. Nonetheless, our goal is to come into each game with a winning mindset.”
Since their last appearance in 2015, in which they were eliminated in the group stage of competition in Equatorial Guinea under the direction of then-coach Honour Janza, Zambia is fighting to halt a streak of three consecutive failures to qualify for the AFCON.
After two matches, Chipolopolo is currently sitting in third place in Group H, level on points with Comoros for second place, and one point behind Cote d’Ivoire in first place.
With only one point, Lesotho is in last place.
Davies Phiri, who will take over for the long-tenured Stephen Mwansa as Grant’s goalie coach, and Moses Sichone, who will serve as the Israel-born coach’s local assistant, have both been appointed in the meanwhile.