AmaZulu’s Bwalya: What Zambia must do differently in 2023
AmaZulu midfielder Rally Bwalya admits the onus is on Chipolopolo of Zambia to learn and improve from their setbacks in 2022 after ending the year with a friendly loss away to Israel last week.
Chipolopolo closed 2022 the same way they began it with a defeat after losing 4-2 away to Israel in the two sides’ debut meeting on November 17 in Petach Tika.
Zambia rallied from two-down at halftime to go level after Kings Kangwa cut the margin in the 55th minute, and Bwalya equalised in the 67th minute before Israel hit back with two last-minute goals.
“It is a bad feeling losing but at the end of the day, scoring the equalising goal that brought us back into the game, but unfortunately, we lost the match in the dying minutes,” Bwalya said.
Midfielder Emmanuel Banda of Djurgarden in Sweden scored an 87th-minute own-goal, and Israel’s Itammar Shviro put the result beyond doubt in stoppage time.
“I think it is the mental toughness that we need to work on because we stopped playing the ball, but when we play the ball, we look very good, but at the end of the day, we just started picking up the ball instead of playing it,” Bwalya said.
“I think we just lost focus at the end of the game.
“It is now up to us in our preparations. It is either we learn and improve going forward to cover up for the mistakes that we are making, especially in the dying minutes, but we still have a chance of improving.”
The defeat saw Zambia finish the year with five wins, one draw and six defeats after starting 2022 with a 3-1 away friendly loss to Iraq on March 18 in Baghdad.
Meanwhile, one win and one defeat in competitive action came in their opening two matches of the 2023 AFCON Group H qualifiers after beating Comoros 2-1 at home and losing 3-1 away to Cote d’Ivoire in June.
Chipolopolo, who have failed to qualify for the last three AFCONs, resume their Group H action in March with a home and away date against Lesotho.
“We have a good team and good coordination, but once we just work together and be consistent, we can start delivering results,” Bwalya said.
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