ZAMBIA has been placed in Group K of the 2019 AFCON tournament along with Guinea Bissau, Mozambique and Namibia. This follows a draw conducted on Thursday night, January 12, 2017, by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Libreville, Gabon.
And National team coach Wedson ‘Wada Wada’ Nyirenda said Zambia had been handed a favorable draw but emphasized that there were no week teams in football anymore.
“It’s a favorable draw bit there are no small teams in football anymore. Our challenge is now how we are going to prepare the senior national team considering that we also have commitments with the U-20 national team. We will find a way to assemble locally based player as early as possible, “said Nyirenda who is also attached to the U-20- ahead of the Africa U-20 cup of nations that Zambia hosts next month.
The 2012 AFCON champions were seeded in pot 1 along with other African power houses despite missing out on the 2017 Edition that kicks off tomorrow January 14, 2017 in Gabon.
Chipolopolo will be seeking revenge against Guinea Bissau who are largely responsible for Zambia’s absence at the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.
The Chipolopolo lost a crucial away match to Guinea Bissau in the 2017 qualifier to miss out on the continents biggest soccer show piece.
The Chipolopolo are currently ranked 88 on the FIFA rankings and are sitting on position 21 on the CAF rankings. Guinea Bissau who were in pot 3 are the highest ranked team in the group sitting on number 68 and 15 on the FIFA and CAF rankings respectively.
Meanwhile, Mozambique, who are ranked 102 and 32 on the FIFA and CAF rankings respectively, were drawn from pot 2 while Namibia were in pot 4 and are ranked 100 and 27 on the FIFA and CAF rakings respectively.
The qualifiers are set to begin in June.