After losing his third consecutive match at the African Nations Championship (CHAN) on Thursday, Zambia national team coach Avram Grant told a press conference in Nairobi that winning at the tournament was not his main target.
For the first time in history, Zambia has exited the CHAN at the group stage.
The Chipolopolo suffered a 3-1 defeat to Morocco, having earlier lost 2-0 to the Democratic Republic of Congo and 2-1 to Angola.
Morocco’s goals came from Mohammed Hrimat in the 45+2nd minute, Ousama Lamloui in the 66th, and Sabir Bougrine in the 90+4th minute. Kabaso Chongo pulled one back for Zambia in the 69th minute, while Happy Nsiku had a goal disallowed — a decision Grant questioned, criticising VAR for not reviewing the referee’s call.
With the defeat, Zambia is officially out of the competition at the group stage for the first time. The team will face Kenya in their final group match on Sunday before heading home.
Speaking after the loss to Morocco, Grant said his focus was on assessing players who could be promoted to the first team.
As I told you, our target for the CHAN is a different target. Of course, we want to win, but it’s not our main target. Our main target is to prepare players for the main national team. And it gave me a lot of things to say about it.
Grant added: “Today we saw three new players for the first time. That makes me happy. Kelvin Mwanza, I think, did very well; there was also Mathews Banda and Happy Nsiku.”
Despite the three defeats, Grant insisted the team had improved during the tournament.
“We will continue with this. We need to prove our targets and we will do that in the next game. This is the reason that I came and coached the CHAN national team.”
READ MORE: Zambia Dumped Out of 2024 CHAN After Losing 3-1 Loss to Morocco
