Morocco on paper have better players in every position

Chipolopolo coach Avram Grant says the Atlas Lions of Morocco have better players than Zambia on paper. 

Zambia will face Morocco at Grand Stadium in Agadir on June 7, 2024.

The Chipolopolo Boys will then host the Taifa Stars in Ndola five days later.

Grant however believes that anything is possible and the harder the challenge the more effort the team will need to put in. 

“Look I will not lie to you or the players , in any position on the paper they are better than us, also Ivory Coast it was the same and we have seen a lot of things like this in football. I believe anything can happen in football, I believe if we keep the harmony on and off the pitch anything can happen. It’s not the first time in my life that the chances are not in my favour,” Grant told the ZamFoot Crew. 

“We came close to getting a good result against Morocco. I know , in their home it will be more difficult, but as I always say if it’s more difficult, you put in more effort so we will try to do it. We have difficulties but it’s part of my job as coach to deal with it.”

Grant also gave his views on the two recent games against the Chipolopolo Boys’ next opponents Morocco and Tanzania during the AFCON tournament. 

He was full of praise for both Tanzania and Morocco saying the Taifa Stars have very good intensity and have improved a lot. 

“Against Tanzania we need to remember that we had a Red Card and with that we played fantastic. Tanzania is a very good team because the intensity they are running is one of the best I have ever seen and they have improved a lot. They are things that we can do better in order to beat them,” he said.  

“Against Morocco it was our best game since I have been here, but they are a very good team, they scored one goal, it’s the first game since I came here that we did not score. We will analyse the two games, and I think it’s an advantage that we already played them. We need to see what we can do better but we need to remember that against Morocco it’s their home and against Tanzania it’s our home. We will learn from these games and am sure they will do the same.”

Grant also revealed that his technical bench in collaboration with the FA have a list of players with Zambian roots who they are looking at. 

“We are now in the process of checking because we want the players who play in better leagues. I know the leagues here put in a lot of effort but not the level we need. So we have a list of players with Zambian roots, we have been checking, a player belonging to Manchester City, other players I think we need more players,” he said. 

“I am never satisfied, I always look to do things better , I think we achieved a lot, I think we now have a stable squad, we have improved a lot on the values of the team and work ethic, the first target was to qualify to the AFCON after nine years which we did.”

“We talked with the players about how we will achieve our next target, no excuses, and give everything on the pitch and  we will continue doing that. Am happy about many things but there are definitely things we need to improve,” he added. 

Grant believes he has a stable team now but will continue to make changes to improve the team. 

“We have made a stable team, we always give chances to players, Miguel (Chaiwa) did not play then we gave him a chance he played ahead of Kapumbu and now Kapumbu is back anything can happen.”