Zambia U-17 national team coach Dennis Mukinka has praised his players for their spirited performance against four-time champions Brazil in their final group stage match, which ended in a 1-1 draw.
The Young Chipolopolo dominated the first half, taking the lead in the 25th minute through captain Jonathan Kalimina, who scored directly from a corner kick. Brazil equalized late in the second half when Wendeson Santos Dell headed in the 81st-minute goal.
Mukinka commended his team after the match, saying, “I give them credit for the hard work. I mean, today the boys fought like I’ve never seen before. I think this was a very big game, and just a few minutes’ lapse in concentration, we conceded that equaliser, but I thought we could have done better.”
Brazil, who had impressed earlier in the tournament with a 7-0 win over Honduras and a 4-0 victory against Indonesia, went pound for pound with the debuting Young Chipolopolo. Mukinka noted that the team had planned well for the game and that only a small lapse led to the equalizer.
“We saw how they played. We planned on defending from crosses, but, yeah, I think we just slept a bit, and we allowed them to come back. Otherwise, kudos to the boys, they’ve really done us proud today.”
Mukinka expressed satisfaction with the team’s progress, emphasizing that the players are improving with each game.
“I think today even ball movement was better than all the games that we’ve played. We just need to improve. The goodness with the boys is that they are improving with every game that passes. If you see the way we played the first game, the way we played the second game, and the way we played today, I think the boys are really putting in their best, and they are doing all they can to win games.”
He reiterated that the team’s goal at the tournament is to progress as far as possible.
“Our target has always been to go as far as we can go. We are not limiting ourselves. Every game that we come across, we just have to take it seriously and just play our lungs out and try to win the game. So our target is to go as far as we can.”
Zambia secured their place in the round of 32 with two victories, defeating Indonesia 3-1 and Honduras 5-2, before settling for a draw against Brazil.
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