Zambia national team coach Moses Sichone has expressed his displeasure with captain Fashion Sakala after the forward showed his frustration at being substituted in the 70th minute.
Sakala was replaced by Joseph Sabobo Banda, while Lameck Banda was also withdrawn at the same time and replaced by Kennedy Musonda.
Speaking after the match, Sichone said his wingers “were completely flat. I didn’t like the way we missed chances.”
Sakala was visibly unhappy after being substituted and spent about 30 seconds speaking to the coach before heading to the bench.
“Fashion [Sakala], of course, he was not happy about my decision to substitute him, but this is a national team. It’s not an individual team. So if a player is not able to perform, we need to give a chance to others. So for sure he was upset,” Sichone said.
“This is something that I need to clear because leading the team as captain, if you are chosen to lead the team, you also need to lead the team by example. I cannot accept such things that a player will come and complain over that,” he emphasised.
Sichone described the behaviour as disrespectful to the technical bench and his teammates. “It has to do also with respect to the teammates and also to the technical bench, so this is something that I need to talk to the player about.”
Sakala justifies his reaction
However, Sakala said his reaction was normal.
“I mean, it’s normal, I wanted to obviously offer more to the team, but it’s normal not to be happy. You know, most of the time I play 90 minutes even for my club so at this stage this is the time I need to offer more to the national team,” Sakala explained. “Of course, I think it’s normal not to be happy as a player if you know that you can do better and if you know that you can offer more; I think it’s normal. So the reaction was okay. Obviously, I just have to keep working hard and help the team.”
Sichone’s side has a crucial match against Morocco in Rabat, where they need to win or at least draw to stand a chance of advancing to the round of 16.
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