ZAMBIA’S TRIPLE AFCON APPEARANCE FAILURE.
– How much of it is Andrew Kamanga’s fault?
With yesterday’s 3 all draw against Algeria, Zimbabwe’s win against the the Zebras of Botswana which moved them to an unassailable 8pts and we are condemned to our third consecutive Afcon appearance failure. The questions to ask are many;
1- When and where did we go wrong?
2- Why the failure after Afcon 2012 success?
3- How much of this failure is Andrew Kamanga’s fault.
4. How can we rectify the problem?
Question 1.
Zambian football has been on slump since 1993, and maybe more visibly since 1997 when most clubs on the copperbelt lost financial support from the mines as these teams were the cradle and pool for our league. The loss of support meant the breaking of grassroot football as most of these clubs had organized developmental structures. This lack of intentional player factories meant a shift to self taught and instructed players (Talent) that for two decades have failed to feature for elite European teams.
Question 2.
The failure after Afcon 2012 is mainly attributed to a lack of transition but that is a fault way to analyze things. The first thing would be to look at is the contingent of the team and how we finally won the cup.
The 2012 team was composed of two sets of players that had great chemistry having played together at junior levels for a long time;
– The 2003 Abuja U23 team comprising of the Katongo brothers, Colins, Mbesuma, Kennedy Mweene and then the 2007 U20 team comprising Sunzu, Mayuka, Nyambe Mulenga and Clifford Mulenga. These two sets of players with the exception of Nathan Sinkala had played together for atleast five years or more hence the cohesion we saw. The Herve Renard/Patrice Beaumelle physical conditioning of our players was a huge plus to our victory.
In short, longevity and not skill, form, tactical or technical superiority was the factor and that can not be relied upon to produce repetitive positive results. We could only go thus far and within a year in 2013 we were caught up with and exited in the first round with two goals only.
Question 3.
So the slump began right after Afcon 2012 and has continued under Andrew Kamanga’s reign. How much however is attributed to him for the extreme slump and triple failure now to appear at the Afcon? I would say 50 percent as he took over an association that already had a falling national team. His problem however is he did not see this slump at the time of his campaigns, did not have a plan to fix it in the short run nor seems to have one to fix it in the long run as nothing has improved in the last five years he has been at the helm. He may have a plan to be transparent and increase financial allocation to clubs but that does not translate to direct positive results on the field, more has to be done.
Question 4.
Soccer like many other sports is an art and a science now that needs detailed attention if an individual, team or organization has to produce positve results yet FAZ has not given it in a long time even in the days of Teddy Mulonga and Kalusha Bwalya.
To fix this, FAZ would have to recreate football factories; compulsory academies for clubs and also engage the ministry of education so that schools become intentional pool centers for soccer training unlike picking self trained and uneducated players who likely would have trouble taking technical and tactical instructions from coaches at senior. Intentionally instructed players would improve the quality of the game in the league, attract high profile clubs which in turn would improve our national team.
Ghana and Cote D’Icoire did the above after their 2004 Afcon failure and ended up making three consecutive world cup appearances, we can do it too.
Happy Friday.
Mbanga Irvine, Ilukui.
Fayetteville, Arkansas.
(2021).