Zambia face Comoros this afternoon in a Group B fixture to be played in Port Elizabeth to wrap up their disastrous campaign at the 2024 HollywoodBets COSAFA Cup tournament.
The Chipolopolo went into the tournament as one of the favourites and defending champions having won the last two editions consecutively but blew away their chances of winning an 8th COSAFA crown as they fell to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Zimbabwe on Sunday.
Having also lost their opening match by the same scoreline to Kenya last week, Chipolopolo cannot progress into the knockout phase and will have nothing but pride to fight for when they come up against the Coelacanths of Comoros at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium today.
Chipolopolo coach Chisi Mbewe says the players have been psyched to sign out of the tournament on a positive note.
“Going into this game we have told the boys not to look down and ensure that at least produce a positive result otherwise I’d say it has been a very disappointing performance at this tournament” Mbewe said in a pre-match interview.
Chipolopolo are expected to welcome captain of the side Kelvin Kapumbu back into the team after missing last Sunday’s defeat to Zimbabwe as he got sent off in the Group B opener against Kenya.
Kapumbu is expected to return to the starting eleven this afternoon and team up with the likes of 2024 Zambian Footballer of the Year Saddam Yusuf Phiri, striker Ricky Banda, Albert Kangwanda among other key players in chasing a face-saving result against the Coelacanths.
Meanwhile, Comoros will also be looking to avoid defeat to secure their place in the knockout round as they sit in second place in Group B with 3 points after last Sunday’s 2-0 win over tournament guests, Kenya.
Kick-off for today’s encounter between Zambia and the Coelacanths of Comoros is at 12:00 hours CAT and will be broadcasted live on ZNBC’s TV3 channel.
