The Coach of the Chipolopolo of Zambia, Avram Grant has told fans of the Chipolopolo to manage expectations going to AFCON 2023 citing this tournament as different from 2012 when Zambia won the trophy after beating Ivory Coast in a penalty shootout.
In an interview with Zambia's national broadcaster ZNBC, the former Chelsea Manager said "fans must admit that there are 10 teams better than us on paper. We have to be realistic. The 2012 edition was different because the squad was almost the same as the big teams."
Chipolopolo after winning in 2012, dropped out of the AFCON in the group stages in 2013 in South Africa and 2015 in Equatorial Guinea subsequently failing to qualify for the next 3 tournaments in Gabon 2017, Egypt 2019 and Cameroon 2021.
Thankfully they are back after missing out in the last three editions.
Zambian fans are beaming with a lot of confidence going into this AFCON in Ivory Coast as they are expectant of the team.
Among the 2012 squad, only Stopila Sunzu is the surviving member in the current squad that heads to AFCON 2023.
Patson Daka, Fashion Sakala, Lameck Banda, Evans Kangwa, Kennedy Musonda are the players Zambia can bank their hopes on as the continental showpiece looms next week in West Africa
The Chipolopolo of Zambia are paired in Group F where they will play Morocco, DR Congo and Tanzania.
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