Tsunami: Our time has come
- Tuesday, February 3, 2009, 21:45
- Blogs & Features
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Having come close before, Zambia hold high hopes of going one better in the coming months and booking their place among the elite of world football at the 32-team tournament in South Africa.
But Zambia must finish top of the standings in their final round qualifying group that includes reigning African champions Egypt and two-time FIFA World Cup qualifiers Algeria.
Zambia’s captain Chris Katongo will be the key player in their side and is the only footballer from the country to enjoy a club career in a high profile league.
The former army sergeant, who received a honorary promotion after he scored a hat trick against South Africa in a vital CAF African Nations Cup qualifier in 2007, is now on the books of Arminia Bielefeld in Germany.
The 28-year-old striker, known for his dramatic somersaults after scoring, talks with FIFA.com about his country’s upcoming World Cup qualifiers, which begin away from home against Egypt in Cairo at the end of March.
FIFA.com: What was your reaction to drawing the likes of Egypt and Algeria in your FIFA World Cup qualifying group?
Chris Katongo: I always think that any team drawn into a group at this stage of the competition has a chance. I don’t think there is such a thing as big teams or small teams. I think it’s a fair draw for us and this is a real opportunity for Zambia to reach the World Cup finals.
So you think there is a real chance for Zambia to qualify, even if you have the African champions Egypt in the same group?
It’s not like that; every game is a difficult game. But we have got this far so we’ve got a chance. Egypt have a chance too, Rwanda as well. This is our time to try and qualify. I know it’s a difficult task, but we have a chance. There are so many good teams who did not make it this far, so you have to believe that there is now the opportunity for us.
How do you rate the strength of the current Zambian team?
I think we have done well.
We’ve been a pretty consistent line-up. It was disappointing that we did not get past the first round of the African Cup of Nations last year in Ghana and that shows that time we need to put in a lot more effort. We need a real 120 per cent effort to be sure of having a good chance of going to the World Cup.
It is less than 500 days now to the FIFA World Cup finals. Does it dominate your thoughts?
It’s always in my brain! Every time when someone talks about my national team, I’m always thinking of playing at the World Cup. If I could put on my captain’s armband at the World Cup finals, that would be the highlight of my career. This is the moment I’ve been waiting for, so we’ll be trying by all means to qualify. Our time has come.
How much has the experience of playing club football in Europe now improved your own game?
I’m just the same player I always was! Nothing has changed. Football has experienced players who can do nothing and those without experience who can make a massive impact. But I’m learning new things every day and picking up more knowledge. But I’m the same player. At 28, I feel I’m approaching my peak.
Have you enjoyed playing in the Bundesliga?
It is a tough league … I’ve enjoyed it despite the fact our team is not doing too well. It’s not a big club but I’ve enjoyed it to be here. Its important for my career to play in a league like the Bundesliga
You are the only Zambian footballer competing in such a high profile league. Do you see yourself as role model?
That’s not for me to decide but for others to see me as a role model. But when I stop playing football I do hope I’ll be remembered in Zambia as one of the players who competed in a big league and did well. But as of now, I’m still improving but I hope that when I stop people in Zambia will think I played a positive role.
You played away against Egypt in the opening game of your final phase of the African preliminaries. What sort of approach can we expect from Zambia?
We need to play our normal game and that is attacking football. We need to score. The best defence for us is attack. We can’t afford to sit back and defend, so I think we’ll go onto attack. If we win, that will be a brilliant start for us but a draw will also be OK. Obviously a defeat is not on our agenda.
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That is wise player in Chris and I wish you the best. Kalu was great but never featured for a competitive league like Chris and Mbesuma has. We hope Kalaba also can do better in Portugal and the lower leagues in Russia ,Belgiam and the Scandnevia are a good stepping stone for young lads. Aim high and inspire the young one. Big Mo and Sinkala have featured well in Germany but we still need alot more players to follow suite.Go Chris!!
All these zambian players need is confidence and believe in themselves that they can do it.if we go in these qualifying games without believing in our selves we wont go nowhere,the only problem this team lacks is a difference maker like kalu was.
Ba bush kalu played for PSV,get your facts right.Its just unfair on the part of our captain who seems determined to qualify but its like he is a lone fighter,people involved in zambian soccer are not serious,maybe chris katongo is the only serious person,coz starting from the entire faz,the coach,the players & government,non of them is serious.zambian football is now just a mater of jokes,kalu,eric,renard & macha should just join kabova @ muvi tv so that they make people happy with the jokes they crack @ football house.
Chris is the most determined player I’ve come across in my many years of following Zambian football. Unfortunately, not all in the Zambian set-up [players and officials] share his determination and drive. As a result, his confidence comes arcoss as delusion. I believe that if Zed fielded the 11 best players on this planet carrying Zambian passports, they’d be competitive in qualifying for the World Cup and would even have a shot.
I don’t think that will happen.
The defence will be vulnerable due to its lack of height. If Sichone is match fit, I take him over any other player from the KCM league or South Africa. But that won’t happen because of bad blood between him and certain FAZ officials. I doubt, too, that Sinkala, a regular with his German club, will add steel to the Zambian midfield. I won’t be surprised if some young player who stands to make a lot of money in transfer bucks for some FAZ officials, will get capped against either Egypt, Algeria or Rwanda. Zambia simply doesn’t have the quality of Egypt, nor the organization of Algeria or Rwanda to be consistently competitive. I see Zambia pulling off a surprise result here and there and getting all you folks on this blog excited. But that’s as far as they’ll go. They’ll lose, you’ll all bitch about it, HR will be history, Patrick Phiri re-appointed and the circus will start again once Phiri fails to qualify the side to the 2012 Nations Cup. That’s the Zambian way.
If only all the players had Chris’s attitude
Well i see jaggari is a foul mouthed pessimist that should not be heard from ever again .He has never played football or understand that we are all aware that odds are against us facing the african champions in our group but this is our captain trying to put confidence in the rest of the team .This guy(jaggari) is clueless that football is about self confindence, a bit of luck and the quality of players you possess obviously we all now that zambia has the talent and the capabilty of qualifying for the worldcup if the likes of angola and togo have been there this just goes show us a with bit of fight and self confindence this is not a far fetched task for the zambian squad .This is a personal opinion i strongly feel such negativity should not be entertained at all costs because its not helpful to anyone .These are the kind of people who fail before the even make an attempt try anything in life and as such they should not be heard .I agree with chris that this is good chance for us to qualify for the first time and i strongly feel maximum points for the home games and win in rwanda will see us through and this is not impossible Jagarri keep your negativity to yourself and no one is bitching about anything you are the one whose chickening out of something thats within our grasp .The zambian way i know is to fight to end i dont know what zambian way you are on about .
Guess Zamfoot is sleeping by now (3am zed time) but when you woke please do something about the comments.The font is just too small.
Thank you
Mr. Nsomba, before you criticize me my good man, you should learn how to write, spell and use lower and upper case characters. You don’t know me and I don’t know. Let’s keep it that way. I never even knew you existed before you took my post so personal. Take care.
Guys I think pot shots or personal attacks towards each r not what the is forum is for. We all have our opinions and if we don’t agree with someone we should state our differences,point out where they are wrong(if they are) BUT DO IT IN A CIVIL WAY.Some people are very opinionated and love to hear themselves talk mostly about nothing or with no concrete facts. unfortunately for a lot of us they are using this forum to display their shortcomings.ignore them but like I said be civil if u choose to respond after all we all bleed CHIPOLOPOLO.
Chansa should learn Chris. This is what is missing in Zambian players abroad. Determination and vision. Chris will be a good player in Germany beacause he has that military discipline. We need to hear more Zambian players come forward and expressing their desire to play in the world. The World Cup is a career changing tournament.
Katongo lights up Bielefeld
Posted: 2009-02-03 20:55
Zambian striker Chris Katongo is gradually beginning to make a difference at German Bundesliga club Arminia Bielefeld after taking home the Man of the Match award in a historic 2-1 win over Werder Bremen on Sunday.
Though stuck in the bottom half of the standings Bielefeld took the match by its throat with Katongo providing the assists for both goals scored by Thorben Marx and Artur Wichniarek.
Katongo played 90 minutes in that game.
Bielefeld assistant coach Frank Eulberg – formerly with Kaizer Chiefs – says Katongo is proving a valuable acquisition since his arrival in August last year.
“We are extremely satisfied with the contribution that Chris has made,” reveals Eulberg.
“Though he hasn’t been scoring regularly he has proved to be a valuable member of the squad as he has played regularly featuring in all the games.
“He has only scored once because we have been playing him on the wing all along. In that position he has had to do a lot of defensive work since the team is also fighting for survival.
“In the first half of the season he spent time on the wing, but we have now shifted him to his proper position as striker since we brought in another winger during the winter transfer window.
“Playing on the wing meant Chris worked a lot for the team. But on Sunday he made two assists which is the most important thing as the team went on to win that game,” says Eulberg.
Katongo spent time in South Africa at Jomo Cosmos mesmerising defenders before leaving for Brondby IF in Denmark and then moving to Germany.
Ngelengele kuma final!
They are pipo who ar so negative abt zambia making it to the world cup.guy this year we should walk by faith.we can only go as far as our eyes can see.felix is more talented than chris .bt chris is making it bcoz of his attitude.he is determin ad his attitude is right 4 a skiper.
I’m usually on the line with Jaggari’s comments but today I should say I somewhat agree with him no matter how pessimistic the comment sounds. For one, we have got to lose the delusion that we have players in both the ZPL and PSL that can match the standards of our Egyptian counter parts, we simply dont!! We keep so much focus on raw players like Hachipuka when we have big mo out there, I dont know how Clive continually makes the team when we have players like Edwin available to us. FAZ have blacklisted a couple of players and sorry to say but we have a lot of fans with such blind loyalty for FAZ that they cant see how detrimental this is to our game but would rather suport the exclusion of the best and settle for sub-standard. I am not sure were this culture of not using the best came from but its got to die but unfortunately we have Kalu at the helm. We have got to accept that we dont have the calibre of players in the current national setup that can play aganist world class players. We have raw talent that can become amazing players but we have to accept one thing, THEY ARE RAW. I also believe with the current attitude to not play the best and try out everyone eligible to play for the nation we will most certainly not qualify for 2010 and will probably qualify for Angla by the skin of our teeth. Chris stands out, Isaac stands out, Kalaba with discipline could be the best Zambia has by the end of the year, good players like Felix seem to be here and there just like the time he was here in SA so you never know if he will have horned his skill to world cup standards.
Now these are players that make the core of our team, the only true players who undertsand how to handle the bigger stage. We can count with just about both hands which players can actualy make a difference and yet we want to depend on raw material like Kola and Mayuka to take us to 2010 C’mon!! they are good but really, do they have the shoulders for such a weight? I dont think so.
The circus at FAZ has to end, we need real administartors with maturity and not footballers with petty grudges.We will not get anywere with blind belief, we need to make it hapen and we are the only people who can.
Postive thinking from Chris thats what we need from every one especialy HR.
Jaggari, I also find your comments too negative for my liking. Zambia has a real chance of qualifying and Iam postive about it as a proud Zambain. like Chris said, You just have to look at the countries that are seemingly better than Zambia that have not made it this far. Your being too particular about spellings,upper and lower case in Nsomba’s comments is way off topic. No one is majoring in English by commenting on this site we need to talk football however, bad one’s english mighty be.
Katongo has character no wonder he is playing in the Bundesliga! He has the belief but his Coach Renard (and many bloggers here) doubt if Zambia can even make the Africa Cup in diamond rich Angola. Kaya. Go Chris, Chris GO! By the way pessimists, how many top European players did Togo or Angola have when they made the World Cup?
people, to qualify and win tournament has to do with a lot of factors-preparation, good admistration, good incentives and good players, happy coach etc. This is the problem in Zambia. Nkana was reaching finals of african tournaments because those days they had a well oiled machine so did Power 90. In 1994 under Simatata, we had a well oiled machine. How do you guys expect HR to do miracles with the problems he has with FAZ? In Ghana we beat Sudan, on the eve of the Cameroun game, there was an allowance dispute (the usual thing in Zambia), you can not make progress like that.
Keep our Head and Dreams High Cris,but Remember the battle is TOO HUGE to dislodge Egypt.
No need to Compare Cris to Kalu, the two are different players , playing at Different times.Guys, Kalu even before he turned Pro was A GREAT PLAYER AT HOME, played a Big Role in Zambia National Team.Personally i dont see Zambia qualify ahead of the Egypt, its will be a miracle.
Ba muzo, I dont want to make your list of pessimists but realists. Togo did not have a single player from the togolese league at the world cup. Just so you know and dont get me wrong I am not saying Zambia should be the same, just answering your question. The list is below for their 2006 campaign so next time you have your facts before throwing out a question like that:
Goalkeepers Kossi Agassa (Metz, France), Nimini Tchagnirou (Djoliba, Mali), Kodjovi Dodji Obilale (Etoile Filante)
Defenders Yaovi Dosseh Abalo (Apoel, Cyprus), Dare Nibombe (Mons, Belgium), Ludovic Assemoassa (Clermont, France), Karim Guede (Hamburg, Germany), Toure Assimiou (Bayer Leverkusen, Germany), Richmond Forson (J.A. Poire, France), Massamesso Tchangai (Benevento, Italy), Kuami Agboh (Beveren, Belgium), Eric Akoto (Admira Walker, Austria), Afo Erassa (Clermont, France)
Midfielders Kaka Aziawonou (Youngs Boys, Switzerland), Cherif Toure Mamam (Metz, France), Thomas Dossevi (Valencien, France), Alexis Romao (CS Louhans Cuiseaux, France), Adekambi Olufade (Al Siliyah, Qatar), Yao Junior Senaya (YF Juventus, Switzerland)
Forwards Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal, England), Robert Malm (Brest, France), Abdel-Kader Cougbadja (Guingamp, France), Moustapha Salifou (Brest, France)
Ba Nsombe, on one side you talk about just expressing an opinion but on the other side you puncture Jaggari’s opinion. Even when we disagree with someone, let’s use terms like “I beg to differ” and not “You are a pessimist”. Ba Jaggari on the other side, not that some people started started off from nursery while others did so from olofeya i.e. welfare centre (no fault of their own). So let’s respect others shortfalls. Guys why don’t the two of you reconcile and meet somewhere for a drink if chance allows. Then we move forward such that when i come to fundraise for the CHIPOLOPOLO, we move as one family.
Ba Jaggari shouldn’t be faulted too much as he’s talking from experience and this we have noticed from this blog. In times like this, everyone is talking about how patriotic we need to be towards our team. But the moment they lose (CECAFA, SA Game) spears come out without necessarilly looking at the causes of some of these defeats.
I will be the first to say that the quality of players nowadays can’t be compared to the lod guys, priveleged to be of an advanced age and having been in both eras. But i need to be fair to the current guys as the sports infrastructure, administration etc is not like before when we had the mines and corporate bodies being good sports sponsors. Countries like Egypt that we want to beat GOD WILLING, have well laid out sports organisations. So to beat Egypt in all fairness will be an added bonus. Cautious patritism is what i would prefer.
We must prepare not just saying God willing. I thought that the government must offer incentives to players to beat Egpty. The fisrt game is crucial. FAZ must also start thinking of camping in Morrocco or Tunisia.
chris born 31-09-82….he is still 26years old according to his profile birthdate bt he says ‘At 28, I feel I’m approaching my peak.’someone is lying and i think thats the problem with zed football.in actual fact i think chris was born in the 70’s but he is one of or the best zambian player at the moment.players shud be encouraged to register their true age!
I do agree with Steve and Jaggari on this one.We need to be realistic when assessing our chances because we just do not have the quality though we can claim to have the talent in the likes of the Mayukas.Egypt is well above us in terms of quality,we shall all be glad if we beat them but that will really require a lot of things in place like good preparations,incentives etc like somebody mentioned.Gentlemen ,we do not have anything on the ground befiting a team ready to go to the world cup.We wiil definetely need a miracle.The Africa Cup seem the easier possibilty.We all love Zambia but must learn that you only reap what you sow.What we are sowing now in Zambia is confusion after confusions(No stadia,no salary for the coach,switching priorities as with the Mayuka issue,no one knows who is running FAZ Kalu or Munaile etc).
Thanks Big Steve, I may not agree entirely with some of your views but I believe that is what blogging is all about. From the research you have done i presume from FIFA.Com concerning the Togo team, you should have as well added the Angola squad in your response:
Angola – 2006 World Cup Squad
Goalkeepers: Joao Ricardo (unattached), Lama (Petro Atletico), Mario (InterClube)
Defenders: Delgado (Petro Atletico), Jamba (AS Aviacao), Kali (FC Barreirense), Lebo Lebo (Petro Atletico), Loco (Primeiro Agosto), Marco Abreu (Portimonense), Marco Airosa (FC Barreirense), Rui Marques (Hull)
Midfielders: Andre (Kuwait SC), Edson (Pacos Ferreira), Figueiredo, Mendonca (both Varzim), Miloy (InterClube), Ze Kalanga (Petro Atletico)
Forwards: Akwa (unattached), Andre Titi Buengo (Clermont), Flavio (Al Ahli), Love (AS Aviacao), Mantorras (Benfica), Mateus (Gil Vicente).
Togo had minor pros only Adebayor was one you could talk about as well as Olufade who had just left France and was campaigning in Qatar-money reasons and his age. The rest were nonetities.
Even Zambia can assemble a team of only foreign based players who are nonetities am sure you know that.
The point is: We are going to war. There is no way am going to say we cant do it. If we cant then lets pull out and channel our meagre resources to more pressing issues like mitigating the cholera and hunger situations looming large here.
Otherwise thanks, Big Steve I enjoy some of your contributions.
Thanks as well Ba Muzo, I’m not entirely sure when you use the word nonentities, these same nonentities as you call them got Togo to a place Zambia has never been before, the World Cup. These players you refer to as nonentities shocked the world and got there ahead of the so called big guns and were do they ply there trade?? And what leagues have schooled their players into being pro enough to handle the big stage?? European leagues.
lets talk Angola,22 players comprising 11 internationals. 50% of the team that took them to the world cup are players from?? Which leagues molded the players into a team that can get them to a world cup??
I hope you see what I am getting at, we are the only ones who do not use our best and guess what, we are rated amongst the biggest powerhouses that get were? Nowhere!!!
Ba Muzo I see your point but realistically speaking we have way too many things we need to fix. Stadia, poor administration, we even need to fix a minister of sport who actually understands sport management, if that is fixable. But we can start with small things first like have a working FAZ whose work is legit. from there we can then focus on one other thing and just keep building from there right now, our league is sorry to say pathetic and the quality of players from our league is sub-standard. Then again we insist on the bulk of our national team being drawn from this same league so the national team as a result becomes what??
We have meager resources, we have a few players out there that have the capacity to win games like the Egypt game, we just chose to ignore and want to believe what we have in the ZPL is good enough, well its not enough, it is actually far behind. The Angolan league has so many foreigners that completion is really high and as such the quality has soared. Lets be real gents, we are not using what we have and have this blind belief. we need to move away from that.
I dont want to sound pessismistic, but I agree with Jaggari and Big Steve’s comments. Thats the reality about Zambian soccer. Lets face it.
The pessimism of some folks on this blog is astounding to say the least. I’m always of the thought that if you don’t have something positive to say or write just keep quiet. Chris Katongo has the right attitude for a player and team captain for that matter. He is not cocky but displays a level of confidence that any player going into battle needs to have. The defeatist attitude that some on this blog display makes you wonder if they ever want our country to succeed. There’s never going to be moment when all the stars line up and we have a perfect administration and team but we can at least be supportive of those eleven men on the field. Go, Tsunami, Go Chipolopolo
Ba Muzo, Logic, I side with you. Gents we got to be optimistic. This is war and the battle lines are drawn.
We are not going in with our tails between our legs. It should be belief from everyone, fans players, coach adminstrators atc.
As fans, as long as we have that pessimism we wont walk into that stadium and shout the loudest.
We should transmit the hope expectation to the players even as they march on to the field of play. We can not go out there not believing in ourselves. Yes we can and with a little bit of extra effort we will.
Its getting interesting here. Thanx Ba Steve, Logic, Mabbwana. Aluta Continua Chipolopolo. We can go to the World Cup! Zambian players watching this space, boys you can do it! Chris Katongo, mulateya nabo, roll your sleeves, sergeant, we shall go after them. There is nothing special about Egypt they are humans like us. Abena Zambia tabajimba!(Zambians are never intimdated). Whatever the situation, bad coach, bad administration, bad politics, bad infrastructure, bad players etc etc etc GO ZAMBIA GO CHIPOLOPOLO. Never say never at least die trying (the opposite is not trying at all-PULL OUT)
Am glad, Ba Steve that you agree, Togo nonteties got them somewhere as well as Angola comprised mainly of locals and no clubbers like the wet-look haired Akwa. So ZAMBIA can also DO IT. COME ON YOU ZAMBIANS!
Chipolopolo forever, in victory or defeat! You guys in SA need to start putting together an activity package for the world cup. We want to come and take that place by storm like we used to do at Indepenence Stadium.
Logic, Zambia going to the World Cup is up tp Egpty to make mistake, remember they have players who win African club cups and they won the Africa cup back to back. With less than a month to go Zambia is in a shambles. Make no mistake, I support Zambia by virtue of being Zambian but just be realistic and I agree with HR, we can go to AFCON, World Cup is 30% of 100%.
What about the rest Bododo, Edwin-Mweetwa-etc. Do you have reasons for them as well?? All players have a bad day so in effect according to you when a player has a bad day or makes a mistake and causes a goal he should never play for the national team?? Is this your reasoning?? Is it not worth it to connect with the player and se how to make him bring out the best at national level seeing we dont have players of his quality anymore? What is your alternative use sub-standard players because Sichone tries to save his legs?? C’MON BODODO you cant be for real. We need our best so we have a chance to scream CHIPOLOPOLO at FNB stadium in 2010. Dont you want to scream chipolopolo until your loose your voice??we need to play our best to get anywere bane!!
Hello Ba Zamfoot, you have deleted my last comment. Was that bad really?
Shidada
Last Africa cup, we held Egypt when they were clicking on all cylinders. Our going to the world cup is not dependant on Egypt making a mistake but on us putting up a better performance than them. We are capable of this as long as we take care of distractions that have nothing to do with the game. Like you I’m realistic about things but at the same time I will not diminish our capablilities just because of the opposition.
We are 1 in 4, we have a chance, that’s a fact. Don’t think about the WC, this is a mini league (without mandingo brothers), with physically strong, economical with the ball, confident team Egypt, Algeria are on the up and up with allot of Egypt’s strength combined with their own flare, and they do believe this is their time aswell. Rwanda are obviously good at what they do… There is a psychological block for us in that we have never won this competition and we can not allow it to rule us. When players play a cup final the manger tells them don’t look at the cup, don’t touch it, until you have won it. There is plenty for the players concentrate on, work, trust and believe in each other. People might wonder why i stick up for HR so much, i don’t really know that much about him, but what i do know is the difference between a good attitude and bad one. If we take on a good attitude, we will be very hard to beat. The will of Zambia runs deep, know that Renard, that is what you must tap into. We are not the like other countries, i think you guys all know. I’m proud to share this goal with you. At the same time we need to be real world for it to succeed.
Having players alone is not enough.We to organise these players,we need to motivate these players,we need to instill discipline and patriotism in these players ,we need to instill vision and confidence in these players and finally we need to prepare the players on the battle field.But with the current Faz admin ,I am not seeing any of these done.
Current obastacles are 1)Kalu must be preoccupied with his CAF candidancy 2)Chilemena his son playing for Zambia,3)HR preoccupied with where his next pay will come from 4)Mayuka report,some 5)some Faz people already complaining of interference like Nkode 6)Munaile preoccupied with politics ma NCC
Firstly my attack on Jaggari was not a personal attack as I stuck to the issue at hand i.e. Zambian football .On the contrary in his response he was more interested in something that will not help Zambian football in the least i.e. my English to be honest I was so annoyed by his views that I did not care to proof read my comments
Finance people say that whenever they get a Marketing budget, they divide it by 4. Bane, even mu exam you can’t just go na confidence if you haven’t prepared. Let’s work on the shambolic preparations we always tend to have before we start dreaming of beating UMU ARAB.
The players will go to battle without a clue of what they are entitled to while the Egyptians and others know what they’ll get. It’s only things like NCC where people know in advance what their perks will be. So Mr Munaile in the same way he budgets for NCC allowances should ensure the boys also budget. Why don’t we on this blog immediately set up a fund to say to the boys that “If you qualify, the amount in the account will be yours to share”. If people are serious, i pledge an initial ZMK500,00 to open this account. If they don’t, we can transfer it to the AFCON 2010.
Ba Chamwe you talk of a well oiled machine with Simaata in 1994, because we had effective players like Kalu who it seems is Simaata’s sworn enemy. In that era Simaata even pounced on an opportunity to mislead us into protests against referee Diramba on a penalty which which was not given when Kalu was fouled in the box against Morocco. I think your man is an opportunist. What has he achieved as chaiman of coaches. I demand 33 goals from the top scorer this season, then you can come back. At least Kalu has a track record in football matters EUFA A, African footballer of the year, FIFA…nalema! With him there everybody in the world of football is paying attention to our progress. Better with with this star focussed football! And yes, he made one good decision, he didnt go with GTV which offered more money but instead went with Supersport. We have stability in our game!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ba Chamwe you talk of a well oiled machine with Simaata in 1994, because we had effective players like Kalu who it seems is Simaata’s sworn enemy. In that era Simaata even pounced on an opportunity to mislead us into protests against referee Diramba on a penalty which which was not given when Kalu was fouled in the box against Morocco. I think your man is an opportunist. What has he achieved as chaiman of coaches. I demand 33 goals from the top scorer this season, then you can come back. At least Kalu has a track record in football matters UEFA A, African footballer of the year, FIFA…nalema! With him there everybody in the world of football is paying attention to our progress. Better with with this star focussed football! And yes, he made one good decision, he didnt go with GTV which offered more money but instead went with Supersport. We have stability in our game!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How do you expect Simata Simata to score goals?Against Angola kalu failed to convert a penalty,what was simata s role in that?.The league in Zambia is not competive and its Faz to design a competive league.They can reduce the number of teams and add one or two countries from other countries.This might bring competition and expose our players.We have to design a league form which ill meet the needs of Zambian football.or we can through cosafa form a league of top three clubs in each cosafa country.its expensive but football of today is about money and entertainment
Mr. Nsomba, I forgive you. But you were very personal. Here are snippets of what you wrote:
“He has never played football…This guy(jaggari) is clueless that football is about self confindence…These are the kind of people who fail before the even make an attempt try anything in life and as such they should not be heard.”
Wrong on all accounts. I’ve been called many things but never a failure, lol!
But I stand by what I wrote:
“I believe that if Zed fielded the 11 best players on this planet carrying Zambian passports, they’d be competitive in qualifying for the World Cup and would even have a shot.
I don’t think that will happen.”
Call me pessimistic, folks and too bad if I hurt people’s feelings but I believe in speaking truth to justice. Last time I checked, Zambia failed to qualify for previous World Cups with much more talented squads. If you’re a FAZ official, tell your associates that you need to give our forgotten players in Sweden and Finland a look.
Ba Bododo,
You can’t blame South Africa’s goal on Sichone. Aaron Mokoena scored off a header on a corner. Mokoena is a defender. Sichone was playing center half and was marking the Bafana forward – successfully, too, since the guy didn’t score. Mokoena should have been picked up by a Zambian striker, either Jacob or Mbesuma. Have you noticed the vital goals John Terry and Gallas score from set-piece situations yet both are sweepers? Remember the goals Elijah Litana used to score for Zambia, including the header against Nigerian in the ’94 Nations Cup final? That’s because most strikers go to sleep on set-pieces and forget that they are also supposed to be marking guys. Drogba, under Mourinho was an exception. He was also in his box clearing corners. This is the type of tactical awareness Zambia needs to bone up on. Remember, it takes just one goal to win a game.
Jaggari, nice stuff
I am impressed.We need justice
Big Steve & Jaggari, don’t call for Sichone, Sichone did not play a role in these qualifiers, others did, that’s justice, that’s fairness, that’s the truth…I’m not saying Zambia should ignore him, but he is his own man, let him speak for himself as i’m not sure you are helping his cause. Besides, HR said he would consider him so what’s the problem? At this stage it’s not even an issue, the issue getting the right preps!
I was putting the case for Tana in the Cosafa squad, but really i didn’t need to. HR was setting an example that it doesn’t matter who you are, you need to be fit. Tana proved his quality for himself. HR was wrong to say those things about Sichone, but HR was had other priorities at the time, and he has since turned round and gave Sichone a chance.
Sorry i was thinking of Sinkala (still relative though). Even ‘big Mo’ that is an issue we can’t sort out immediately.
Seen from afar I will beg to disagree with you here “Sichone did not play a role in these qualifiers, others did, that’s justice, that’s fairness, that’s the truth”I beileve every capable soccer Zambian player must be assesed or given a chance.Having Sichone in the camp might bring confidence in some players.Playing in North Africa wont be easy for inexperienced or unexposed players.Rwanda will be one other rough place beacause we seem to be under rating them.The Egyptians will want to finish us off just there in Egypt.
1. Chris Katongo is not 28.He is 26
Who is zambia going to play against on wednesday next week ,FIFA friendlies day?
FIFA, you can make the case for or against the forgotten stars. It could bring confidence, but it could be disruptive and unproductive aswell. Who can say for sure, are we right to think Moses Sichone can be the difference at this stage? Maybe so, but right now, let’s just hope preps are good enough and players all will be considered. This talk of what the North Africans are going to do to us is people fear mongering. Check that guys, we don’t need that.
Seen from afar, you seem to be missing the point here. Big mo is an example we have used but the point is, we need to use our forgotten pro’s and reason for this is that we dont have enough sound quality in our current set up to qualify us to South Africa.
What hurts is that there are Zambian players who can actually take us to 2010 and yet we insist on sub-standard players from ZPL. Believe you me a player like big mo understands the big stage. Play againist Argentina, whilst the possibility of our favoured Hachipuka being star stunned on the field of play is there, big mo sees these stars everyday and has played with them for over 9 years so he will go in with the tackle regardless. We do have the quality out there but for some dumb reason we choose not to use it.
Katongo is such a postive influence on that team however the Coach lacks confidence. Even when going to play Egypt he is already defeated. It seems his target is Afcon, i wonder what mandate FAZ gave him
Big Steve, ok, point taken. Let’s just hope the team has chance to be accessed and that the people in control will not be to adverse to use more help if need be . At this stage this is what we should hope for. This is not the first ‘what if’ scenario and i’m sure there will be more, unfortunately that’s life, we always have to be ready to play our chips where they land.
We hope for the best.Its about a month to go before we meet Egypt,so every Zambian Player should think of how he will get a chance to score on that day,most especially strikers,they need to polish up.Its time to watch the Zambia – Egypt videos so that we can learn one or two things on the mistakes we commit most of the time.FAZ,pls distribute these videos to Individual Players (even the Fans) so that it can be taken as home work.
You all knw that we played egypt recently.Abu terika,zidan and zhaki wer all ther but they failed 2 beat us.A smal gentleman called kalaba sent a delightful ball to th seargent who made no mistake.PLIZ STOP THS NONSENSE THAT WE CANT QUALIFY! HR IS A WRONG CHAP WHO MAY DISTURB SUCCESS 4 US.U knw that ryt?He doesnt av technique to hs game.Wat a coach