Under-17 national team assistant coach, Tenant Chilumba, says the next game against Lesotho is a must win.
Zambia started the Council of Southern African Football Association (COSAFA) title defence campaign with a barren draw against Mozambique.
Chilumba said in an interview after the game at Francois Xavier Stadium in Port Louis that a draw was not a bad start for the champions.
He said Zambia will have no option but to win the next game against Lesotho is they are to defend their title.
Lesotho is today scheduled to face South Africa in the other group B match.
“A draw was not a bad result. Mozambique was a good side, they defended well. We thought we could get a goal in the first half, we were in a hurry to get a goal. We will just have to keep pushing. The next game against Lesotho is a must win,” he said.
Mozambique coach Luis Victor Funo said his team planned to hold Zambia.
He said playing against a good team like Zambia needs serious caution and that a draw against defending champions was a good start.
“You have to be very careful playing against a good team like Zambia. We were expecting them to have full control and push up which they didn’t do. We tried to capitalize on our skillful wingers to tried and put them under pressure. Zambia has fast strikers, they have combative midfield and very skillful wingers, our plan were to hold them in the first half which we did successfully. We came out a little bit more in the second half with some changes and we could have scored.
The top two teams in each group will qualify to the quarterfinals.
THURDAY’S RESULTS
Group A
Namibia 8 (Tyrin George 3, Edmar Kamatuka, Prins Tjiueza 4) Seychelles 3 (Afandi Aboudou, Jarrel Suzette, Rino Pauline)
Mauritius 0 Botswana 1 (Oageng Maphorisa pen)
Group B
Zambia 0 Mozambique 0
FRIDAY’S FIXTURES
Angola vs Malawi (KO 10h00 local, 06h00 GMT) – Stade Anjalay
Swaziland vs Zimbabwe (KO 12h30 local, 08h30 GMT) – Stade Anjalay
Lesotho vs South Africa (KO 15h30 local, 11h30 GMT) – Stade Anjalay
