Zambia and Tanzania meet in a must win clash today at the Laurent Pokou Stadium with both sides seeking their first victory of the competition.
Zambia held DR Congo to a 1-1 draw in their opening clash while the Tafia Stars of Tanzania suffered a 3-0 defeat to Morocco.
All eyes will be on Hemed Suleiman who will take up the reins from Adel Amrouche following his suspension when they face the 2012 champions who looked like a well-oiled machine against DR Congo last week.
The Tafia Stars are yet to make it out of the group stages of the competition, with this edition marking their third appearance as compared to Zambia’s 18th showing.
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Led by the highly experienced Avram Grant, Chipololopolo will be looking at carrying on from their impressive showing against DR Congo.
Zambia coach, Avram Grant said he is expecting a complicated match against a solid Tanzania side.
“The most important thing in football is the next match. We started well against DR Congo but the focus now is Tanzania and we’re focusing on that. This meeting is important because we want to win to increase our chances of qualifying for the next round. We have our own style of play. We want to move forward, and score goals every time. The Tanzania team is very solid. We will have to expect a complicated match,” he said.
The assistant coach of Tanzania, Hemed Suleiman who is standing in for Adel Amrouche who has been banned for eight matches after making insulting remarks about Morocco, said he is prepared to the huge task ahead of him today.
“After the match against Morocco, we prepared our team mentally and physically. We have also resolved our problems and we are ready to play Zambia. It’s a great team with good players but we have objectives for this tournament too. It’s a big responsibility for me to be here. But that’s normal too. The head coach could have had a red card so I have always had to be prepared for such situations,” he said.
