. Kaunda

By MOSES CHIMFWEMBE –
Guinea 1  Zambia 0
COACH Chris Kaunda is upbeat that the Zambia Under-17 soccer team will bounce back to winning ways and reach the semi finals of the 2015 Africa Junior Championship despite losing the opening game.
Zambia kicked off her debut at the continental junior tournament with a 1-0 defeat to Guinea in Niger on Sunday evening while the other Group A match saw Nigeria beat the hosts 2-0.
A 25th minute strike from close range by Aboubabacar Toure proved decisive in this hugely entertaining and closely fought battle at the Stade General Seyni Kountche in Niamey.
Zambia upped their game in the second half with substitute Kenny Sinkala coming close to restoring parity twice as Kaunda’s lads piled pressure in search of an equaliser.
Guinea shot stopper Moussa Camara was equal to Zambia’s fire power as he pulled off outstanding saves to deny Patson Daka and Enock Mwepu and ensured maximum points haul for the West Africans.
Zambia tomorrow takes on hosts Niger in a must win match before wrapping up the group games against tournament favourites and record winners, Nigeria.
But Kaunda told Journalists in a post-match conference that even though his team had gotten off to a losing start in their maiden appearance at the competition, they are still in contention for a semi-final berth.
“It is disappointing to lose the way we did especially that we could have scored at least one goal from the chances we created. It is still an open tournament. We will go and review what happened today (Sunday), talk to the players and get them to play without any pressure,” he said.
He said his team was still on the right path of securing a semi final place which guarantees a World Cup place.
“In our next game against Niger, there will be nothing like they are the host or home team. I will still say that my boys are ready and they will be focused on that match. Our world cup target remains the same,” Kaunda said.
Skipper Daka urged the team to put the defeat behind and focus on collecting maximum points in tomorrow’s game.
He said the team should correct the mistakes and expressed confidence that Zambia will qualify to the last four.
“As a team, we will now focus on the next game. We have learned a lot from today’s (Sunday’s) game. We will do our very best in the next game,” he said.
Guinea coach Hamidou Camara described Zambia as a tough opponent but that his side worked hard in front of goal.
“We lacked cohesion but we tried to work together and keep the ball but Zambia was tough and we had an exciting and technical match today,” Camara said.
Nigeria tops the group on three points with Guinea in second spot owing to an inferior goal difference while Zambia and Niger are third and fourth respectively.
The top two teams will progress to the semi-finals and clinch qualifying spots at the 2015 FIFA Under-17 World Cup to be staged in Chile.