Few people will call out things as they are, and former Chipolopolo striker James Chamanga is among the few. The 2012 AfCON winner has hit out at national team coach Avram Grant describing the Israeli as the wrong coach for Zambia.
Perhaps working with soldiers at Red Arrows has taught Chamanga a thing or two about being honest. Not many serving players would write off a coach like Grant.
Chamanga’s misgivings with Grant have arisen from the Israeli’s recent comments, which saw him fail to take responsibility for Zambia’s poor showing in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, where the team has lost three games on the bounce.
Niger, Morocco, and Tanzania have all beaten Zambia in the last three games to compromise Chipolopolo’s chance of winning Group E and qualifying for the biggest football showpiece known to man.
Zambia’s only win in this qualifier has come against Congo Brazzaville, a game where the team toiled for a 3 – 2 victory at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola.
‘He should take responsibility,’ Chamanga tells Grant
After the 1 – 0 home loss to Tanzania earlier this month, Grant was short of saying qualifying for the World Cup was not a priority for Zambia.
Chamanga has taken strong exception to that.
“I think we have a wrong coach,” Chamanga said when he appeared in a special interview on Sun FM. “I think for me, the coach [Grant] hasn’t really [done a good job]. When I heard that he said ‘the World Cup is not our target,’ I was so disappointed.”
Chamanga said that for a coach of his stature, Grant should take responsibility for failure.
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