CHIPOLOPOLO coach Avram Grant admitted he was not entirely pleased with his team’s performance despite Zambia’s 1–0 victory over Tanzania in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier on Wednesday night.
A Fashion Sakala 74th minute tap-in was enough to give Zambia a win over the Taifa Stars in a Group E encounter played in Zanzibar.
After the game, Grant said while the result was important, the overall display, especially in the first half, left room for improvement.
“I think first half I was not so happy from the performance, we didn’t manage to pass the ball like we want to pass the ball, quickly forward,” he said. “But also we need to say good word about Tanzania; they caused us a lot of problems with the ball and without the ball,”
The teams played to a scoreless first half that had fewer goal mouth chances.
Zambia waited until the 74th minute to get their noses in front after a good break that saw Captain Kabaso Chongo and Lubambo Musonda combine in the build up before setting up Sakala to finish.
“But second half it was better, we were the better team, we played better than the first half. It was not one of our greatest games but we deserve to win,” Grant said.
Zambia has now switched focus to Sunday where they will be hoping to conclude their qualifiers with a high when they face Niger at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola.
Despite last night’s win, Zambia remain fourth in Group E with 10 points, two behind second placed Niger.
“Second place, so for this we need to play in Niger. If we win against them probably we will be in second place and it’s a process since I came,” Grant said. “We’re always improving, improving and one of the points, we need to win all the games.”
