By GWEN CHIPASULA –
THE Council for Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) president Sukete Patel says he is disappointed with Zambia’s poor performance at the just ended COSAFA regional football tournament in Namibia.
And the Chipolopolo arrived back in the country yesterday from Namibia where the finished sixth.
Patel said in an interview in Namibia that it was sad that Zambia was knocked-out in the quarter-final stage when they were expected to be one of the best performers.
“I am both happy and not happy for the teams’ performances at this year’s COSAFA. Small teams like Swaziland and Lesotho have improved which is very good. In terms of the knock-out stage, I would say I am extremely disappointed with the Zambian team. It is supposed to be our best performer.
“This shows that football is developing in our zone, which is also one of the COSAFA’s objectives of hosting such tournaments. The gap between bigger countries and smaller ones is narrowing,” he said.
Zambia’s outing has been a devastating one where they lost two of the three games they played at the championship.
Zambia lost 4-2 on penalties to Swaziland in the first game to see the team fail to qualify for the semi-finals.
This threw Zambia into the plate competition and straight into the semi-finals where they met Lesotho whom they beat 3-2 to see them qualify to the Plate final.
There, Zambia faced Namibia, the team that knocked Zambia out at quarter-final stage last year and lost 1-0.
Coach Chiyangi, who headed the team in George Lwandamina’s absence, said not all is lost for the team adding that the COSAFA tournament has been a good experience for the boys.
He said the technical bench is now focused in rebuilding the team adding that the result was a good lesson and guide for the coming assignments.
South Africa won the tournament to get the title from Namibia who won it last year in South Africa.