CHAN 2024: Former Chelsea coach beating war drums as Zambia prepare for Harambee Stars
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Reading Time: 2min | Wed. 13.08.25. | 17:15
They face hosts Kenya on Sunday, 17 August, at Kasarani, hoping to pick the first win of the tournament
Coming into this year’s Africa Nations Championships (CHAN) tournament being played in East Africa, Zambia was one the favourites to lift the trophy.
The team has taken part in the last four editions of the tournament with their best performance being in 2009 when they finished third.
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However two matches later, the team is placed at the bottom of group ‘A’ having lost twice to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola.
But despite the poor performance coach Avram Grant insists they have not yet given up on advancing to the next stage.
Speaking after his team lost 2-1 to Angola on Sunday evening, Grant a former Chelsea coach said: “We had come here with a new team and there are a lot of positives we can pick from the tournament. Despite the first two losses we are not giving up."
Grant blamed individual mistakes for the team’s loss to Angola, a match he says they played way better than against DRC.
“The first match was a disaster for us but today we played much better. We created six clear chances and scored just one. We tried our best and missed so many chances which cost us the match. However, there are a lot of good things I can pick from the loss,” he said.
Zambia have two group matches remaining and must win both to have any chance of making it past the group stages.
They face hosts Kenya on Sunday, 17 August, at Moi International Sports Center (MiSC) hoping to pick the first win of the tournament.
Kenya is leading the group with seven points after beating DRC and Morocco by identical 1-0 scores.
They drew 1-1 against Angola. It will be Kenya’s last group match and a win will ensure they top the group and make it to the quarters.
