CHIPOLOPOLO : CHICKENS COMING HOME TO ROOST BUT WE CAN STILL QUALIFY! The position Zambia is in now is hardly surprising. Qualification to Morocco 2015 is still possible but the road looks rocky. Third behind leaders Cape Verde on 6 points and Mozambique 5 points. Zambia is on two points and one goal in three matches! In fact, the national team is yet to win an away qualifier match since 2011. Are we that bad? After the Africa Cup triumph in 2012 we got drunk with success. We thought we had a birthright to victory even with takataka changes to the technical bench. Herve Renard after failing to guide Zambia to the CHAN and World Cup despite free points off Sudan and first round exit at the Africa Cup in 2013, left. The job fell to Patrice Beaumelle on a silver platter. Beaumelle decided to join Renard in Ivory Coast after being frustrated with conditions here. The job then fell to Honour Janza again with no competition from anyone. He inherited a rookie assistant in Chintu Kampamba who equally got the job with no consideration of any other competitor. Chintu will be an excellent coach with time. But if Kabwe Warriors had to bring in Mohammed Fathy at Godfrey Chitalu Stadium to avoid relegation how then is Chintu ready to deputise Janza in the highest coaching job in the land? That smacks of an expensive experiment. Now we have Nico Labohm (read LABOOOOAM) coming to assist Janza. One criticism of Janza is that he lacks sufficient experience with either a club or national team as head coach. In my books, Janza is not bad. He is highly qualified. But does he possess the experience to handle these players and their bloated egos? Labohm has 30 years experience as an instructor. He is not a hands on man too. So what sort of assistance is the Dutchman offering Janza? He has been given a blank cheque Labohm. If he likes it here, he can extend his stay. What happened to If he produces desired results? A local coach such as Wedson Nyirenda with his knowledge of Mozambique would be a valuable addition to the bench. Even Tenant Chilumba, George Lwandamina, Bestone Chambeshi, Fighton Simukonda, Hector Chilombo or some other sufficiently experienced Zambia would be better options at present. This squad needed regeneration from 2012. Todays frontline boasts of how many goals in the last three years? Charles Zulu was a live wire. Imagine if we had Lubambo Musonda, Bruce Musakanya, Evans Kangwa, Ronald Kampamba, Larry Bwalya, Kayawe Kapota, Patson Daka and other youngsters at the core of our squad mixed with performing old timers. Shakes Mashaba today played a 17 year-old central defender for the first time and South Africa won 2-0 away in Pointe-Noire against Congo. Days of playing names, club-less players and bench warmers are long gone. The Patson Dakas are the future. If a coach is timid to make changes and tactical substitutions always sticking to the past then such a coach must head through the exit door. We are reaping what we have sown. Failing to choose on merit. The chickens are coming home to roost. Not all hope is lost though. Zambia has nine points to play for and can still qualify. After that a postmortem must be done. Going forward Honour Janza must be decisive. He must not dig his own proverbial grave. The match on Wednesday has loads of repercussions and implications on the way forward for Zambian football. Let us not bury our heads in the sand when confronted with such situations. Zambia has abundant talent from administrators, players and coaches. For now, give Janza, Labohm and the team support and let us see what happens at Levy Mwanawasa on Wednesday. God bless our great Zambia.
Posted on: Sat, 11 Oct 2014 19:42:33 +0000
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