· ‘Underdog’ tag ’ll favour us —Mweene
TO overrun Nigeria and others, the Zambian national team must relive the spirit of 2012 that saw the country win the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time.
The Chipolopolo host the Super Eagles of Nigeria in a 2018 World Cup qualifier on October 9 in Ndola and only the rare commitment displayed by the team four years ago at Africa’s football fiesta could draw the spirit for a victory.
This is the view of former Chipolopolo player, Jericho Shinde, in an interview with The Post newspaper of Zambia.
“We need the players to exhibit the spirit that they exhibited in 2012,” said Shinde, who represented Zambia in the 1980s.
The 2012 Africa Cup of Nations triumph for Zambia was the first for the country which lost to Nigeria in the final of the 1994 edition. The Super Eagles also took over as champions from the southern African country in the 2013 edition.
Shinde admitted that though the Chipolopolo class of 2012 was not the best, the spirit it demonstrated made the difference and the team, at this point needs same against Nigeria, Cameroon and Algeria to secure a place in the 2018 World Cup.
For the team’s goalkeeper, Kennedy Mweene, the ‘underdog’ tag on Zambia in the race for a ticket to the football World Cup in Russia could just work in the team’s favour.
According to Mweene, who scored a goal against Nigeria at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, the Chipolopolo rise to the occasion when at a time like this they are not given a chance.
“It won’t be easy, yes, we are in a tricky group but I think Zambia does well when written off but I can tell you our opponents know that it will not be easy. And I think going into these qualifiers as underdogs gives us that motivation to want to prove people wrong,” The Post quoted Mweene as saying.
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