Last night, the Numba Mumamba-coached Zambia National Team, comprising locally based players, suffered a 3-0 defeat to Kuwait in an international friendly played in Cairo, Egypt.
Shabab Al-Khalidi opened the scoring for the Arab nation in the 16th minute. After the break, Khaled Ibrahim and Al-Khalidi scored for Kuwait to comfortably beat the Chipolopolo boys.
The team was using the match to prepare for next month’s COSAFA Cup which is set to be held in South Africa.
Their opponents Kuwait, on the other hand, were using the game to prepare for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
The team will now move to Casablanca where they are scheduled to face Morocco under-23 in a friendly match on 19th June.
“The team played well’- Numba
Despite the defeat, coach Numba Mumamba insisted that they played well.
“The team has played well looking at the team we were playing,” he said.
Mumamba explained that the game has given his technical bench a picture of what they need to work on.
“I think in the first half we struggled a bit. I think we were slow. Otherwise, the young boys have accounted for themselves well, looking at how they came out, especially in the second half. I think it has given us a good picture of where we are and what we need to work on,” Mumamba explained.
He also pointed out the striking department as what let the team down.
“Of course, in defence and midfield, we did well. We tried, but unfortunately, in the final third, our strikers were a bit in a hurry. We had some chances where we could have made a difference. But unfortunately, we were not clinical, especially in the second half. Otherwise, we just have to work on the striking department so that we can be clinical in the coming game.”
Mumamba also expressed confidence that the technical bench has enough time to work on the mistakes that they had noticed before their next fixture.
The COSAFA Cup will take place from the 5th to the 16th of July, and the defending champion Zambia are in Group B with Malawi, Seychelles, and Comoros.
