October 15, 2009
And FAZ would launch a developmental programme dubbed ‘Project 2020’ aimed at developing under-12 and under-14 talent to push Zambia’s 2014 and 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification bid.
Kalusha said the passage to Luanda was in the Chipolopolo’s reach and that both Renard and his players were well aware of the expectations from the Zambian people going into the final qualifier against Rwanda next month.
At a Press briefing at Football House, Kalusha said FAZ had every hope that the Chipolopolo would get the result in Rwanda but that the association was also deeply concerned with the team’s indifferent performance in recent games.
“Like every Zambian, FAZ is concerned with the team’s inability to score in the last three games and we wish to assure the nation that we are taking necessary measures to ensure that after missing out on FIFA World Cup qualification, we succeed in qualifying to Angola 2010,” he said.
Kalusha said following a crisis meeting on Zambia’s loss to Egypt, the association had decided to let Renard complete his mission of qualifying the team to the AFCON finals in Angola by turning their act especially the goal-scoring department.
He said Renard had shown his courage during his reign at the helm of the team and that FAZ was getting its confidence from the abundant potential in the current squad.
“Every football loving fan should now leave the game against Egypt behind and look forward to the next match. We need your support to get the result not only in Rwanda but all matches and from that we can build for a successful outing at the AFCON finals in January,” he said.
Kalusha said Zambia stood a chance of qualifying to the AFCON finals in Angola but that the players needed to go to Rwanda with a personal conviction that they can play at the highest level regardless of the pressure.
“For the game against Rwanda, we will go there open-minded, focused and play to win this last game. The coach and players are aware of the need and demand from the executive committee and the Zambian people,’ he said.
The FAZ president is already looking beyond the Rwanda match with the association lining up a training camp for the Chipolopolo in Spain later this year coupled with other warm-up matches to prepare the team for Angola.
He said the association would continue to organise high quality international matches like the games Zambia had played that included matches against Morocco, Iran, Congo DR, South Africa and Ghana.
He described the ongoing World Cup and AFCON campaign as the best in Zambia’s history going by the resources committed to the cause by President Rupiah Banda and other stakeholders.
Kalusha said it was unfair to say his executive had made a poor start to its four-year mandate considering Zambia was in the last phase of the qualifiers where other countries like South Africa, Senegal and Congo DR had failed.
He said Zambia had even finished third at the CHAN championships in Ivory Coast during the current executive’s tenure of office and that calling that a poor start would be out of witch hunting and a pre conceived agenda against FAZ .
[Times of Zambia]
80 Comments on "Kalu confident of AFCON Qulaification"
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Shi Chamar on Thu, 15th Oct 2009 4:33 PM
Ba Zamfoot Biggey Nimwebo!!
As for Kalu, just Bring Kabamba. Chapwa!!
Seen from afar on Thu, 15th Oct 2009 4:41 PM
Excellent, that’s exactly what we want to hear from FAZ. They are on ball with this one.
Time to move forward with the utmost seriousness, care and consideration. I voiced my doubts and concerns for HR earlier. If i could summarise and give HR a message, i would say the following. Stop reading the map and start reading the terrain. In other words, there are things that are not in the coaching manual, and you are learning on the job so also be receptive to those around you. God bless.
Awe on Thu, 15th Oct 2009 4:41 PM
Ba Kalu ine I am happy that FAZ is looking to the future. The U-12 and U-14 sounds very good, I hope FAZ will provide more details on how they wish to go about this and when we can expect to see something happen. I’m tired of empty promises from politicians, now I don’t want them to come from FAZ also. This training camp in spain, what happens if Zambia doesn’t qualify? What is FAZ planning to do between now and 14 Nov, do we have a friendly planned out to see how we will play against Rwanda or what? And what of the players..are they prepared to play for HR and are they committed to this coach. If HR is not getting the best out of these guys then that needs to be addressed with the players as well.
SHADBEAT on Thu, 15th Oct 2009 5:13 PM
I’ll comment after the Rwanda Game.
Uncle Bobs on Thu, 15th Oct 2009 5:38 PM
Yes U-12 and U-14 should come so that we stop depending on Dinosaurs in the Chipolopolo!!!
Alex on Thu, 15th Oct 2009 6:08 PM
Good vision though the striking problem should be treated as a matter of urgency. We also need a set pieces expert to bury all those dead ball situations. Training camp for strikers should start now with atleast 10 local based and emphasis should be on accuracy, shooting, positioning and inside 18 tactics. This can be achieved by engaging a striking coach on short team. Sakuwaha can easily be converted into a powerful striker with his qualities. Afcon yes we can but whose gonna score for the bullets? Preparation starts now or never. Weelee
farid from Algeria on Thu, 15th Oct 2009 6:47 PM
You’re big dreamer, FAZ president Kalusha Bwalya give him self free, he’s just speaking, and all start to blieve him, he did nothing for the team, you’re reallly naive
farid from Algeria on Thu, 15th Oct 2009 6:50 PM
I hope Ewanda 2 Zambia 0, because Kalusha Bwalya has sold you team with egypt
Kk11 on Thu, 15th Oct 2009 7:00 PM
Now that cooler heads are prevailing I have decided to make a short but precise comment on the status of our situation. It was interesting to hear all the cries about firing Renard and how he was compared to othe renowned coaches. A lot of people were simply just too emotional, and that’s a mistake some do…….making decision when emotional.Renard has failed at what? He said his goal was to qualify us to the African cup. Has he failed at that? No! We have lost a few games in a row….. big deal!We all know the reason we have lost is the luck of scoring. The larger margin of defeat has been by 2 goals. Our display has been good.The clamour on this blog to rid us of Renard would lead one to belive our display has been pathetic.The man has a contract that runs till May of next year and his mandate is to lead us to Angola. untill he fails us then we can start making plans to reinvent the wheel. The other thing is I would not like to pay someone to sit on the sidelines that’s free money!! Till then Gods speed Renard ! See y’all in Angola!!!!
Gametime12 on Thu, 15th Oct 2009 7:52 PM
This Article was taken from Kick Off Muta and crew I hope you read this, take it from the players themselves.
Don’t fire the coach – Zambian fans
Posted: 2009-10-14 11:30
Zambian fans say that firing their national coach Herve Renard will not help sort out the country’s football problems as the team’s failure should partly be shouldered by FAZ.
The fans say that FAZ should not pass the buck of the senior national team’s poor showing on Renard as failure to qualify for the World Cup was as a result of not having quality players, rather than a coach’s inadequacy.
The chairman of the Copperbelt association, Joseph Mulenga said there was nothing new about Zambia qualifying to the Africa Cup of Nations on the last day.
He said only late Ben Bamfuchile had qualified Zambia to the Nations Cup with a near-perfect record.
“What we have always needed are strikers. FAZ, when they came into office, knew this and did nothing to resolve this problem. Zambia needs players of high calibre like Ivory Coast and Cameroun.
“We need to have players in Europe like Didier Drogba or Samuel Eto’o and not a bunch of players in South Africa,” he said.
Mulenga said the solution was not just hiring a foreign coach but making sure that a number of young players got access to Europe.
He said with the chances that Zambian created and wasted last Saturday in the 0-1 loss to Egypt, high profile players would have easily buried them but it was not possible to win if a team could fail to score from such clear chances.
Mulenga said disturbing the technical bench would not help raise the calibre of Zambian players which was low but would instead take Zambian football to even lower levels.
“You cannot at this point bring in different players for the Rwanda game and neither can you start disturbing the technical bench as if you have better players, it’s the quality players we lack,” he said.
Mulenga said players like Felix Katongo and Collins Mbesuma looked good but had failed to perform in Europe yet were the most dependable Zambian players.
He added that even Alex Ferguson could not qualify Zambia to the World Cup because the calibre of players was low and could not compete with countries like Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Cameroon.
remember porterfield on Thu, 15th Oct 2009 7:59 PM
Did Kalu just say this is the best run for the world cup qualification in the history of Zambia? I beg to differ. Zambia only needed a draw in Morrocco to qualify to USA94!
Awe on Thu, 15th Oct 2009 8:13 PM
@Gametime12
Joseph Mulenga is not a player, but he is a fan association president (can’t remember which fan association) so I don’t know what you mean by take it from the players themselves. That article is actually in the times of zambia also.
Awe on Thu, 15th Oct 2009 8:17 PM
@remember porterfield
Kalu was talking about in terms of support for the national team i.e. resources and support from the president. Results wise you are absolutely right, we came ever so close in ’94. I wish we could be put in a qualifying group where we play our final games at home because we always seem to be away, and requiring results
Copperbullet on Thu, 15th Oct 2009 9:30 PM
In 2020 most of you bloggers will be dead, so what future are you talking about?
Gametime12 on Fri, 16th Oct 2009 12:15 AM
Copperbullet 2020 is only 10 years from, what are you in your late 80′s or something?
Muta on Fri, 16th Oct 2009 4:21 AM
@Gametime
I agree with you that Zambia does not have world class players like Eto, Drogba, Essien, Toure, Adebayor e.t.c. Yes it’s true that Zambia needs a player or two who can win a game with their individual brilliance performances, but this should not be an excuse for HR’s poor results. Having the best players alone does not gurantee results, because don’t tell me that if I coached Ivory Coast today, they would beat Zambia. Just look at senegal when they lost their coach who led them to the 2002 africa cup final and 2002 world cup were they shocked everyone by beating the then current world cup champions France 1-0.
I
desire on Fri, 16th Oct 2009 5:56 AM
copper bullt, you make me laugh i know you making a joke!
campos on Fri, 16th Oct 2009 7:59 AM
Those are stories…we will attack and attack u lke Christiano Ronaldo and celebrate goals lke Philipo Inzagi…forget abt Egypt or ALGERIA….u scored 1 goal against Amavubi…the pain is still fresh…we will hummer u just 2 goals…u players lke mbesuma ar just dormants ..chris is old en u Kalusha is just corrupt…ALLEZ AMAVUBI …..ANGOLA……..
Kashman on Fri, 16th Oct 2009 8:25 AM
Campos your team has only scored once in 5 games and allowed 8 Goals so what are u toking about, your front line is equally Blunt, we will avert all the Anger on you at your own backyard so that we inflict more pain on you. Zed4real..
The Doctor on Fri, 16th Oct 2009 11:08 AM
Have reserved my comments lets wait for the Rwanda game.thats a good project ba FAZ.
Mabbwana on Fri, 16th Oct 2009 12:11 PM
If we are to qualify to the WC we need to have a well set-out structure were theres proper player development towards the senior team, have a focused admin group in the FAZ office as well as developed infrastructure. Its going to happen just out of the blue.
Shula kaipele on Fri, 16th Oct 2009 1:52 PM
Am speechless & keenly following the proceedings. God bles our great nation
Local Soccer Fan on Fri, 16th Oct 2009 2:04 PM
Project 2020 is an excellent project, my only prayer is that with the corporate world coming on board, the govt and ‘fossil’ administrators dont come in and hijack the project. Join ‘Dondo’s Sports Academy’ on facebook and help promote youthful sports administrators, mind you the U14′s need ‘grassroots’ mentors-cum-administrators who are willing to spend time with them on a simple pitch, not in a club house. (Saturday we have an Independence Cup tournament at Kalilingalinga Ground)
Vincent Numbwa on Fri, 16th Oct 2009 2:53 PM
Too many jokers in Zambia football just like politics. I cant help thinking our status with regard to SA 2010 is what we deserve for the efforts we put in.
chiti chitundu on Fri, 16th Oct 2009 4:26 PM
well what is just sa and painfull is us losing all those games and two at home! thats a disaster which kalu didnt experience himself when he played. its just painfull. away YES but at home. Things really change, who would think zambia would lose two games (without scoring) at home. . its not a good performance at all. i feel sorry for the coach who has to work with so many incompetent people and with low quality players and expect to yeild results . this is not us and we all miss the football that was in zambia. imagine the stadia wasnt full for a game like egypt. i reemember even zambia vs madagascar that time was full at 9hrs in the morining!!!! twamipapata ba kalu and gruop please do somthing to our game. lets all join forces in zambia and help ssave this beautiful game we have form job seekers ,politicians,corrupt individuals. kalu ,you have the passion but alot of people that surround you are job sekers they have no interest in soccer
Awe on Fri, 16th Oct 2009 5:19 PM
@Chiti Chitundu
Low Quality players?? Half of that team is the same team that qualified for AFCON two years ago. The other half are players who played in an U20 world cup and made it to the second round. How many “high quality” players did Angola have when they qualified for the world cup? Why are we going to place blame on the players by calling them low quality. These guys are giving it what they can. Unless you intend to create an international transfer list or simply wait wait for 2020 to come to fruition. I agree with everything else you said ecept calling our guys low quality… these guys can achieve great things don’t count them out.
Justice Kafusha on Fri, 16th Oct 2009 5:33 PM
It is not all the teams that have and do qualify to the world cup have quality players. Some teams depend on team work while those who are luck can depend on super talented players. Denmark have qualified to SA2010 toping their group ahead of Portugal and Sweden who have Ronaldo and Zlatan. Denmark have relied on team work and the inteligence of their coaching bench. There is no star player in the Danish National Team. So the issue of special players is not the reason we have failed to qualify. The reason for our failure is that of our coach being scared of our opposition especially Egypt and Algeria. HR was 100% afraid of these 2 teams, but my view is that we would not have qualified to SA2010 even if we were put in the same group as Malawi, Benin and Barkina Faso, not under HR and the current bwata bwata FAZ. I hope some changes one day will come.
Awe on Fri, 16th Oct 2009 6:11 PM
Ine mwandini I want to see if this 2020 vision is for real. How many times do we get lip service and yet there are no genuine strides or plans to accomplishing these things. These U12 and U14 teams; when are we going to see them. Who are they going to play? Has this been coordinated with the ministry of sport and youth development, or even the ministry of education these young people will be in school. What leagues are they coming from and who is the one heading this initiative within FAZ? Naine I can announce anything, bt if there is no action to back it up, then lets call it a day. BA JUSTICE, eifyo ndelanda about ama star players. Zambia has the talent to win with team play, its putting the talent to work, and also getting the best out of the players that is a problem.
Gametime12 on Fri, 16th Oct 2009 7:47 PM
Awe and Justice They are comparing our players to the Egyptian and Algerian players, We have quality players but our standards of quality players is just lower than that of our opponents. The article above clear states that We don’t know have high quality players like Ivory Coast or Cameroon, and that is a fact. Awe your example of Angola making it to the world cup does not hold water, They made it to the world cup in 1989. I don’t even think the competition back then was as stiff as it is today. A lot more teams have improved now, We have stayed at the same level while the so called “small teams” have improved, thus making it difficult for us to beat any team. Ba justice the gap between Denmark and Portugal is not that big, besides We rely on team work too We just cant score a single goal. This is not because We cannot create chances, We’ve had numerous chances some of them too easy. This is were quality comes in, you don’t mess up such chances at that level. I guarantee you that Denmark utilized their chances.
Richie on Fri, 16th Oct 2009 11:30 PM
To be honest,i have failed to read between in kalu’s 2020 plan in the sense that i dont know if he is telling the truth or just trying to tickle our ears.However,if it is true then i totally welcome it cos we really need to move 4wad.
Anonymous on Sat, 17th Oct 2009 1:14 AM
FAZ project ? 2020 vision ? lol .. Kalu is just putting people to sleep after the national disaster that we just witnessed.
BTW, Rwanda needs just 2 goals to qualify. What a shame.
Chamz on Sat, 17th Oct 2009 9:19 AM
Rwanda need to beat us 4-0 to qualify and not 2-0.
Justice Kafusha on Sat, 17th Oct 2009 9:51 AM
Gametime12, I appreciate your contributions and please keep it up. Well a look at the whole issue I feel our performance has been pathetic. It has been rare that Zambia has played 6 friendly games and 5 official games, which adds up to 10 in total. Out of these 11 games Zambia has won only 1 game (1 GAME) Vs Rwanda, drawn 2 ( 2 GAME) Vs DRC and Libya, and we have lost 8 games Gametime12 my brother. This is equal to 5 points out of a possible 33 points. FAZ and the coach have failed us. I do not see a very big difference between our players and that of Algeria and Egypt. If we could experiment and let the Algerian or Egyptian coaches take over our National Team in just 2 games, I am sure we would win them both. HR is not the right coach for any National team with ambitions. HR should start with a club before being engaged by any National team. You do not climb a tree from the leaves, but from the roots. HR and FAZ jumped the gun and attempted to climb the tree from the wrong end. The current FAZ must be kicked out including the coach.
Justice Kafusha on Sat, 17th Oct 2009 9:53 AM
adds up to 11
Justice Kafusha on Sat, 17th Oct 2009 10:05 AM
11 games 1 win, 2 draws and 8 losses and the name of the coach is the same? I am really impressed, what a record. And now we will be ranked number 144 and after Rwanda spank us number 300 even then HR will still be coach. PP was kicked out after a poor performance at Ghana2008, 1 win 1 loss and a draw, and yet this guy is being given a long rope, why? He is not even ashamed, eating money without producing results that sucks
Justice Kafusha on Sat, 17th Oct 2009 10:09 AM
By the way congratulations to GHANA the Black Stars Under20 National Team, for being the first African Nation to win the World Under20 World Cup. Beating Brazil. Job well done
Justice Kafusha on Sat, 17th Oct 2009 10:10 AM
By the way with a local coach
Gametime12 on Sat, 17th Oct 2009 1:37 PM
I hear you Ba justice, When I was home in 2007 I went to watch a premiere league game at Sunset stadium, I was hoping that the game would bring back the good ol memories of the fun times I used to have watching Zambian football. Instead I was disappointed to point that asking for my money back would have made the situation better. That’s how boring the game was Ba Justice, and this was only 7 years later from the time that I left Zambian. I can tell you that I noticed a big difference, and the stadium was empty. If you had gone to see this match then you would understand why most fans stayed home (I would have done the same thing if I knew what I was in for). By the this was not the last game I watched while I was in Zambia, and they were all boring. I can tell you that in the late 90′s and 2000 the league was very much alive, and We had a lot of talented players in our won league. The funny thing was that most people had warned Me on how the standards of football had gone down. It seemed as if a lot of them had lost interest in the sport, even people that wanted to play active football at some time had given up hope. I’m talking about people I knew, most of them were looking for jobs or were working. Politics prevailed, I understand how they did not want to risk their bodies over nothing there’s no back bone to Zambian football. Its either you make it or you were regret ever trying to become a footballer. I don’t know about the league this year Ba Justice, but from what I’ve seen it seems to be picking up. My point though is that you really have to watch the local league to understand how low are standards are compared to the old days. I’m sure you can not name one player in our current squared who has the ability to make defenders panic like Kalu used to. Don’t be carried away by the “flowers” these players are displaying, that’s just basic stuff. Even I could control, hold, and pass the ball, I haven’t seen anything special from any of our players.
Muta on Sat, 17th Oct 2009 2:15 PM
@Justice Kafusha………… People like Gametime are just a worst of time, he does not understand the duties of a coach and I really don’t think he can read and understand the game of football. If he has followed our national team’s performances since HR took over, he will notice that we are only getting worse. Let him check the coca cola rankings, but again he will find a way to justify that it is not HR’s fault.
After watching the first game against Egypt and Rwanda home game, Zambia and HR tactics were exposed in short we have became predictable. There is no maturity in our play, we easily loose our shape, our attack is not organised and there is no sound leadership from the technical bench. And all these problems can be sorted out by HR and his technical team, the players are not to blame.
HR has introduced the 4-3-3 formation; this is what is costing us results and lack of goals. Zambia does not develop player with the technical abilities and skills suited for this kind of system. This formation is mainly suited for teams that have or produce players with very good technical skills like Brazil, Spain, Holland, Barcelona, Argentina and Arsenal. You develop a system according to your strengths because that is when you get the best out of your players. Our attackers are not organised and can’t score goals because they are not used to the new system HR is trying to introduce.
Lets look at the Egypt game for instance, He decides to play with three attackers, Mbesuma, Katongo and Kalaba. This gave Egypt one extra man in defence and the advantage. I really don’t think that attacking force would trouble any team, even the likes of Namibia and Botswana. In the midfield he decides to play 3 central midfielders one playing as a stoper and two to intercept the Egyptian passes. This looks very defensive and shows that HR gave Egypt too much respect. In the first half Egypt defended very deep, that gave us more space and freedom in the midfield and hence we looked a better team. All Egypt had to do in the second half was to stop defending too deep and spread the ball wide.
The Egyptian coach made a tactical change in the second half and that won them the game, nothing to do with player quality
You can bring Drogba but if HR decides to play him in the midfield or right wing he won’t be as effective as he would be when he plays as central striker. Zambia poor performances have nothing to do with payer quality but just HR not understanding Zambian football and lack of tactical knowledge.
Gametime12 and crew don’t have a clue about what you’re talking about and you’ll only be worsting your time with them.
Awe on Sat, 17th Oct 2009 3:11 PM
@Gametime… Angola made it to the 2006 world cup. That was 3 yrs ago, and they were in a group that included a very strong Nigeria squad. How can you say that the times were different or the quality lower. Nigeria was still a very dominant at the time and was a very big team even back then. Angola did this with no superstars to speak of.
@Muta… How can you call 4-3-3 formation too defensive? Zambia had Kalaba, Mbesuma, and Katongo upfront and you say it was defensive because the Egyptians had one more defender…you expect us to play a 4-2-4? The attack was fine, you had Chivuta pushing upfront behind the top 3 with Sinkala and Sunzu covering for the counter. It was best half of football we have played in a very long time, but Egypt was able to adjust in the second half like you said. Other wise you are right we are tactically naive in that we did not react well to conceding the goal, and we have become rather predictable. HR to me …seems to be learning on the job, but I will stick by letting him finish this campaign. Like I said prior to this…this quality players argument is ridiculous….how do you want to qualify for AFCON and keep saying you don’t have the quality to beat teams like Egypt..ninshi why are we going to AFCON? It will be the lions den next year…Cameroun, Nigeria, Mali, Ivorycoast, Ghana, even Gabon, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt all considered big teams. Unless HR can avoid all these teams he should plan on either beating them or stop making excuses. His defeatist attitude has really pissed me off, but let him finish then we can judge him on that.
Awe on Sat, 17th Oct 2009 3:18 PM
Oh yeah…Guys can I say one thing. Why does the private sector always say they will give money for Zambia to hire a foreign coach. Only in Zambia do we accept that having a foreign passport is part of ones qualifications. Why does the private sector never offer to pay guys like Patrick Phiri? We need to stop this colonialist attitude towards ourselves and start respecting our local coaches the same way we roll out red carpets for these foreign guys. Lets also hire on merit not Zambia is looking for a foreign coach…if you’re not a foreigner then don’t apply. Its very sad… Patrick Phiri and Ben Bamfuchile (MHSRIP) deserved better, and I don’t blame them for going elsewhere because they got more respect in those countries than they did in their own. We are wasting coaching talent with our attitude, and we are wasting money. Vision 2020 is a hoax..until I actually see something, I don’t believe it.
BuzzEd on Sat, 17th Oct 2009 4:15 PM
Muta, Awe and co. I think Gametime 12 is right here. The truth of the matter is that Zambia lacks quality players and it is a fact you and I know but you choose to substitute the truth with fiction. That is your so called “quality” players can’t win or score goals period. Like somebody already said, nobody in the current squad plays football to let your jaw drop. They all play basic football. Touch-and-go and a little wiggling here and there that does not amount to anything. Worse of all they don[t know how to utilize set pieces and corner kicks. You might aswell give them a dozen set pieces and I bet you non of your boys will score! It is so frustrating to watch these boys to say the least. Let us not cover our eyes from the truth that is so blatantly evident. It is time to put some serious effort into the U20 and develop some exceptional talent that know how to take set pieces, score from corner kicks and perhaps resuscitate the dying sport. Meanwhile, hold on to what you have discovered that is good e.g Clifford Mulenga, Mayuka and the other promising kids not mentioned that need to be nurtured so that when they take over, they will be equal to the task.
By the way, we now have a new bench mark to beat, Ghana are the U20 world champions. Let us start from a similar level and build on it. If you look at that Ghana team, you will see talented youngsters that will soon take over the senior team and they will be unstoppable. Zambia has to wake up and accept these facts or it will be slumber as usual!
BuzzEd on Sat, 17th Oct 2009 4:42 PM
By the way Muta, just because somebody has a different opinion than you do does not mean quote “does not understand the duties of a coach and I really don’t think he can read and understand the game of football,” really? How presumptuous of you! I personally find Gametime12 comments on the game overall objective and I don’t have to agree with everything he says but to question his understanding of the game after being on this blog for a while is rather insulting.
Gametime12 on Sat, 17th Oct 2009 5:07 PM
Thanks for standing up for me BazzEd
Muta on Sat, 17th Oct 2009 5:27 PM
@Awe……….there are two ways of playing the 4-3-3 formation. Using 2 defensive central midfielders and 1 attacking midfielder, you are playing the defensive system and when use one defensive midfielder and two attacking midfielders, you are playing the offensive formation. HR was playing the defensive system against egypt and teams don’t play defensively at home.
You said we had kalaba, Mbesuma and Katongo as our attackers. I don’t think we are will get the best out of these players using the 4-3-3 formation. Yes they are good players on paper but not in the system. I think some of the players are played out of position and the formation does not suit their game. I know Katongo at his best when used as right winger/midfielder or as second striker. Kalaba is at his best when played as right midfielder, and the boy has a good cross.Mbesuma is effective around the box in a 4-4-2 formation. These are good players in their own positions and systems and we should play them according to their strengths so that we get the best out of them. I magine if ivory coast played drogba as midfielder or right wing, he would look everage because he is used to playing in those positions.
This is why HR does not call Clifford Mulenga and Many wide midfielders. They are not suited to his system and style of football which I respect.
I agree with you that we should keep HR until the end of the qualifiers. But we should not keep him past that because the man decided not to understand zambian football.
Each country has it’s own style and brand of football and produce players suited to that brand. Look at Brazil, Spain and Argentina don’t produce wingers because they don’t play their brand is not 4-4-2. They produce great midfielders and strikers. England and Portugal produce very good wingers because their brand is 4-4-2. Zambia has a brand of football similar to that of England and we have been at our best using the 4-4-2 system.
HR has failed because he does not understand our national system and he can only get the bst out of our players when he decides to use the 4-4-2 form formation.
@Awe……….. I think we need people like you at Football house. I agree with you that a foreign passport in Zambia is an extra qualification, hence HR is more qualified than any other coach in Zambia despite his poor CV.
Muta on Sat, 17th Oct 2009 6:02 PM
@Awe……….there are two ways of playing the 4-3-3 formation. Using 2 defensive central midfielders and 1 attacking midfielder, you are playing the defensive system and when use one defensive midfielder and two attacking midfielders; you are playing the offensive formation. HR was playing the defensive system against Egypt and teams don’t play defensively at home.
You said we had Kalaba, Mbesuma and Katongo as our attackers. I don’t think we are getting the best out of these playing them in a 4-3-3 formation. Yes they are good players on paper but not in the system. I think some of the players are played out of position and the formation does not suit their game. I know Katongo is at his best when used as right winger/midfielder or as second striker. Kalaba is at his best when played as right midfielder/winger, and the boy has a good cross. Mbesuma is effective around the box in a 4-4-2 formation. These are good players in their own positions and systems and we should play them according to their strengths so that we get the best out of them. Imagine if Ivory Coast played Drogba as midfielder or right wing, he would look average because he wouldn’t be playing in his best position.
This is why HR does not call Clifford Mulenga and Many wide midfielders. They are not suited to his system and style of football which I respect.
I agree with you that we should keep HR until the end of the qualifiers. But I don’t think we should not keep him past that, because the man has decided not to understand and respect Zambian football
HR has failed because he does not understand our national brand of football. He can only get the best out of our players when he decides to use the 4-4-2 form formation.
Each country has its own style and brand of football and produce players suited to that brand. Brazil, Spain and Argentina don’t produce good wingers because they don’t play brand of 4-4-2. They produce great midfielders and Attackers. England and Portugal produce very good wingers because their brand is 4-4-2. Zambia has a brand of football similar to that of England and Portugal. We have always been at our best using the 4-4-2 system.
@Awe……….. I think we need people like you at Football house. I agree with you that a foreign passport in Zambia is an extra qualification; hence HR is more qualified than any other coach in Zambia despite his poor CV.
Seasoned Soccer Fan-USA on Sat, 17th Oct 2009 8:31 PM
Zambia drops 15 point on the FIFA Rankings 3 places in Africa
CAF Ranking SEPT 2009 Zonal Ranking Team Pts
W A
14 1 Cameroon Cameroon 949 15 Up 130
19 2 Côte d’Ivoire Côte d’Ivoire 903 1 Up 51
28 3 Egypt Egypt 798 4 Up 12
29 4 Algeria Algeria 781 15 Up 74
32 5 Nigeria Nigeria 763 2 Up -10
38 6 Ghana Ghana 746 -6 Down -40
45 7 Gabon Gabon 691 -10 Down -68
51 8 Mali Mali 632 2 Up 39
54 9 Tunisia Tunisia 629 -4 Down 15
55 10 Burkina Faso Burkina Faso 616 -3 Down 14
63 11 Morocco Morocco 511 -6 Down -49
67 12 Benin Benin 475 11 Up 62
71 13 Guinea Guinea 461 -16 Down -113
77 14 Uganda Uganda 428 -5 Down -20
80 15 Togo Togo 403 -9 Down -51
84 16 Mozambique Mozambique 382 0 Equal -17
85 17 South Africa South Africa 381 -12 Down -64
89 18 Senegal Senegal 368 -9 Down -42
90 19 Malawi Malawi 365 15 Up 53
96 20 Zambia Zambia 340 -15 Down -69
Seasoned Soccer Fan-USA on Sat, 17th Oct 2009 9:38 PM
Big up to Zesco and Hard Luck to Zanaco. ZESCO are in good running again. We need you back in the champ League for 2010.
BuzzEd on Sun, 18th Oct 2009 12:47 PM
Gametime12….I think you were making a valid point and it just appalling the unwarranted attacks you were getting by simply stating the facts which are there for all to see. But for some bizarre reason certain people choose not to own up to the truth.
Just to put things into perspective regarding the quality of players we are talking about Josef RSA and I appreciate your comment. F. Katongo, C.Mbesuma, N. Chivuta, C. Katongo, S. Nsunzu, D. Nkausu, F. Tembo were all struggling with form at their clubs during the qualifiers. Non of them were playing regularly at their respective clubs. If they did, they were lackluster performances. How do you expect these players to perform at the big stage against an Algerian or Egyptian team that has players in good form and enjoying top level football at their various clubs in Europe? Remember that we have very high standards for the Zambian team while you make comparisons with Mozambique and Malawi. Zambia is supposed to be a sub-sahara soccer power house. Coming back to my argument, the mistake people are making here is confusing POTENTIAL with QUALITY. There is no doubt about the potential of these boys. Nevertheless, by saying that we luck quality players, we are simply bemoaning the untapped potential in these boys due to loss of form and lack of playing competitive football. Our cry for quality has nothing to do with lack of appreciation for the hard work the boys have put in to get us thus far in the qualification process despite their short comings. However, you and I know that it was just a matter of time before the gas ran out and faced a bitter dose of reality. Take another example for clarifications’ sake, you cannot blame a pilot for crushing a plane that is poorly maintained and not serviced regularly. No matter how good of a pilot one can be such a plane is a crash waiting to happen! That is exactly the Zambia situation. We expect the coach, with a less exciting resume, to fly our poorly serviced and maintained team into stormy weather and land it safely in 2010 South Africa. Not even Sir Alex Ferguson can save this plane from crashing! Similarly hope you also realize that even if we qualify to Angola we are merely going there to participate and not win the trophy. Another dose of reality to hard to swallow. Now consider if you had a well serviced plane with proper maintenance and a pilot crashes that kind of a plane, ceteris pereibus, there is something gravely wrong with that pilot and probably should not have been handling the plane in the first place. In other words, there is potential in these boys to play top class football and become quality players and win mighty things like we all want them to. However for as long as these players fail to break through competitive leagues in Europe and command first team action or play regular 90 minutes football at their various clubs and be successful, they will not have the quality that it takes to fly through stormy weather the kind of Egypt, Algeria, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Cameroon would bring late alone at the world cup. The best we can do is comparing ourselves to Malawi, Botswana and Mozambique because really that is our level now. And if you told me that Malawi or Mozambique is favorite to win the 2010 Africa Cup, I would ask you to give me some of the stuff you smoking. Hopefully, you get the point.
Until we acknowledge this fact, the finger pointing will never stop and Zambia will continue to wear the “big dreamer but perennial underachievers” neck tag. What is the way forward someone might ask?
To harness this potential and turn it into the quality it is supposed to be is were FAZ and all stakeholders comes into play. They are the oil and grease that should make all the intricate parts of the national team and Zambian football at large function smoothly together for optimum results. They need to put their act together and get to the root cause of the problem which is player development from the U12, ’14 and ’17 level up until they graduate to the national team. That being said, we come full circle to the core of the problem. Let me not even get started talking about the importance of having good training facilities and equipment. FAZ has to do the dirty work of creating a proper structure for player development and management at club and national team level, it is absolutely necessary important in this modern era of football.
The top down approach method of player development is no longer sustainable and teams hanging on to that method are on a path to their demise. It is high time that Zambia evolved with the modern game because young talent development is what every great footballing nation in the world is doing besides what is potential if not manifested and utilized to its maximum? The sooner we come to this realization, the faster we will save ourselves from this nose dive.
Independent on Sun, 18th Oct 2009 9:14 PM
BuzzED.The top down approach is the hallmark of the Kalusha Bwalya led FAZ.They are more concerned about national team football than anything else.They have neglected the local league and the youth football development.How many of the premier league teams in Zambia have U12 or U14 teams in their set ups.The reserve league which used to curtain raise for the main games in the 80′s is virtually non existent.We also don’t have full fledged youth league run in the same lines as the main league.
In the absence of such structures and dedicated funding,how do you expect even the so called “Vision 2016 project” to bear ant fruit.The money that is spent on trying to keep the national team relevant could well be used to fund the youth football in the country
Qualifying to the AFCON in Luanda is just a short term goal that will do very little to restore Zambia’s status as a football powerhouse.