MARRAKECH – Namibia and Zambia can reach the final of the African Nations Championship (Chan) with their style of football, Ivory Coast national football team coach, Ibrahim Kamara has said.

Kamara said this at a media conference after his team was eliminated from the competition by Zambia on Thursday evening.

Ivory Coast, who are in Group B alongside Namibia, Zambia and Uganda, also lost their first game at the competition on Sunday against Namibia.

Addressing the media after his team’s defeat, the coach said Namibia and Zambia have thus far shown what it takes to thrive at this competition.

“People should not be surprised if the winner of this competition comes from Group B, because the quality of football being played by our opponents is really good. Namibia and Zambia are tactically good, plus they have the pace to penetrate in any defence at this competition,” he said.

Kamara added that Chan is a platform to showcase the best locally-based players on the continent, which Namibia and Zambia have done.

“If you look at Ivory Coast, we have a good team when we talk of foreign based players and I can say locally we have a good squad too, but our opponents had players in their squad who have been in the senior national team set up for long. As for us we are still building this team with the aim of qualifying for the Olympics,” said Kamara.

He stated that with the introduction of Chan most of these local players are given a chance to showcase the best talent that Africa has at home.

“Most teams will undermine Namibia and Zambia because they do not hear a lot about them at this continental competition and that will play to their advantage. I am sure if the two teams keep their focus like they did against us in the group stages they will definitely reach the semis if not win this competition,” he stated.

Ivory Coast will play Uganda in their last group game on Monday at 21h00 Namibian time. The two nations will play for pride as they have both been eliminated from the competition.

They have zero points thus far from two games played each. – Nampa