‘MICHON’ IMPOSSIBLE?
…as bungling Chipolopolo face Botswana
AFTER recording consecutive defeats to Lesotho and eSwatini at the ongoing Cosafa Championship in South Africa, the Chipolopolo will today seek to reclaim their status as giants in the Sourthen African region when they face Botswana in a Group A fixture at Wolfson Stadium.
Today's fixture is a must- win game for the Chipolopolo led by Serbian coach Milutin “Micho Sredojevic” who is now under pressure after Zambia's back to back defeats to Lesotho and eSwatini.
Zambia who are the defending champions of the Cosafa Cup will also need maximum points to redeem their hopes of defending the title.
“Micho” who believes that the Chipolopolo who are the best squad at the Cosafa will have to inspire his charges with a new philosophy which can produce results on the pitch for the Chipolopolo to redeem themselves.
The Serbian is expected to make changes to his squad with striker Justin Shonga expected to start after he scored Zambia's only goal in the 2-1 defeat to Lesotho.
Gramphani Lungu, who has yet to find the back of the net for the Chipolopolo this year is also expected to come in for Brian Mulenga and Augustine Mulenga who failed “Micho” in the 1-0 defeat to eSwatini. Central back Adrian Chama is also expected to bounce back because Kabaso Chongo will miss today's game after receiving yellow cards in the back-to-back fixtures.
The Chipolopolo are rock bottom on fifth spot with no points in a group dominated by eSwatini and South Africa who are both on six points.
Botswana is on 3rd spot in the standings of group A of the tournament with three points, and a win over Zambia will increase their chances of progressing to the next round of the competition.
Today's fixture presents Chipolopolo a chance to revenge their 1-0 defeat suffered on November 16 when the two sides locked horns in an AfCon qualifier played in Francis Town.
However Botswana also has some scores to settle knowing that it is the Chipolopolo boys who beat them 1-0 in the final of the 2019 Cosafa Championship to miss out on the title.
Both Zambia and Botswana are familiar with each other, as they have played five matches between themselves in the past two years, with one of those being the final of the previous Cosafa Cup edition.
Botswana will hope that striker Tumisang Orebonye can duplicate his performance from their last match, as he scored a hat- trick in what was their second-biggest victory ever.