Zambia will be hoping to make home ground advantage count and overturn their slow start when they take on Sierra Leone in the TotalEnergies CAF AFCON Morocco 2025 qualifiers this evening.
Having started out with a disappointing opening day defeat to reigning African champions Cote d’Ivoire, Avram Grant’s men will be hoping to overturn that result and get their qualification campaign back on track, although this time on home soil.
Chipolopolo will host the Leone Stars at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola, a place which has proven to be a happy hunting ground for Grant’s men in recent fixtures.
“We like to play at home. These supporters were so good in the last game that we played here and they helped us a lot,” he said ahead of the encounter.
“So, we are happy to play here against a very good opponent. We have seen them, and we know that it will be tough; but our aim is to make it just as tough for them. We will do everything in our power to achieve this and to start well and to go to the AFCON for a second time in a row,” he explained.
Grant is confident that his side will be able to qualify for back-to-back AFCON tournaments despite their slow start in qualification.
“Yes, if not I wouldn’t be here,” he said.
“I think we have a good team, even with all the absences. We showed this in the last game where we had a good performance but we didn’t get the best results and now we want a good performance and a good result,” he added.
The 2012 champions are in a delicate position after their loss to Cote d’Ivoire as they find themselves bottom of Group G ahead of the reigning champions, Chad as well as Sierra Leone.
Source: CAF Online
