Will God be on our side today?

By Chimuka Moono Hanyama

The tables are set. Today is the day when Chipolopolo’s resilience will be put to test. How much will they be elastic to the demands of the fans, nation, well wishers and even ancestors? Will the boys manage to suffocate the tall desert adapted Cranes?

Its clear, the nation is sitting up. Sudan is a danger to reckon with. They are more than capable of shutting up the hopes for Chipolopolo to go to Brazil next year. Sudan, even though they lost the points due to use of a banned player, had easily managed to send the Chipolopolo into tears at their home ground.

However, Chipolopolo seem to have prepared well in advance. They have undergone the initiation, needed for their morale to win the game today. They have gone through prayers asking for God to be on their side. Their coach, Herve Renard has put in the best he thinks can gel for today’s must win encounter. All the players are in top form, and are ready to play well as they did last weekend against Lesotho.

From the look of things, Zambia is likely to use the line up they used against Lesotho. Although the front line lost a number of loose balls due to lack of precision in passing in the early minutes of first half, they came back and scored 4 goals using the same combination of players. Collins ‘King David’ Mbesuma and Jacob Mulenga were top men fed by Mukuka Mulenga and skipper Christopher Katongo.

These players blended well and made a threatening attack while playing an ease shift match from left to right and vise-versa. Today, it appears Chamanga James will be given enough play time so that he uses his forceful attack against the Cranes of Sudan. Fwayo Tembo also is expected to be considered after he put up a good direct attack against Lesotho.

Whatever the case, Zambia need a win today to keep the fire burning. The next other challenge or rather obstacle is Ghana who is trailing the Chipolopolo by a point behind. The race is tight. Any form of a mistake must be avoided. These are desperate times for Chipolopolo, and these times call for desperate response.

Soccer is difficult to predict, time always tell. And it surely will tell even today.