The Zambian and Leicester City FC rapid forward has said their international friendly match against Mali this Friday is a very good test for him and his teammates as their opponents have a good squad but charged that they are not concentrating on who is in the Mali side.

It’s not about concentrating on what or who they have in Mali,

Mali is a very good side, they have got a very good squad with very good players and I think it’s going to be a very good test for us and also for our confidence,

Said Daka

Daka believes the friendly match against Mali will show the level the team has reached and how ready they are for competitive matches.

I think everyone wants to play against the best and I think they have got a good squad and for us it’s a good test because its going to show us the level we have reached and how ready we are.

Mali national team coach Éric Sékou Chelle named a star studded squad with some of the notables being, AS Monaco’s midfielder Mohamed Camara, RB Leipzig’s Amadou Haidara, Yves BISSOUMA of Tottenham Hotspurs, Crystal Palace’s Cheick Doucoure and Southampton FC striker Moussa Djenepo, among others.

Zambia and Mali will play two back-to-back friendly matches on the 23rd and 26th of September 2022 as part of their preparations for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers which were postponed to match next year.

The two have played each other four times with the Chipolopolo winning two and losing none as the other two meetings ended in a draw. This excludes one meeting at the African Nations Championship in 2016 which featured locally based players only for both countries and ended nil-nil.

They last met in 2005 during the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in a match that ended 2-1 in favour of Zambia after goals from Linos Chalwe and Collins Mbesuma in the 26th and  85th minutes secured victory for the home side despite Mali scoring an equalizer in the 73rd minute through Soumaïla Coulibaly.