We Need Winning Mentality To Beat Nigeria - Zambia Coach

Zambia coach, Wedson Nyirenda, says the side needs a winning mentality to beat Nigeria in next month's Russia 2018 World Cup qualifying fixture.


Nyirenda was unveiled as an acting head coach of the Chipolopolo on Tuesday by the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ), replacing George Lwandamina who had been in that role since June 2015.

The Chipolopolo have struggled to make an impact since winning the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

They have also failed to qualify for the next AFCON scheduled to take place in Gabon in 2017. Now they face a mighty task to pick the ticket to Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup, with Algeria and Cameroon also in their group.

"We are looking like we are a weakened team, but that's why people are there," Nyirenda told Fazfootball.com.

"We need to change the players mentality and to change how things are done in the field.

"We must have a winning mentality. I think we are the lowest level but we need to give our players the confidence that they can do it.

"I am coming in to rebuild the team but we have to look at qualifying for the 2018 World Cup at the same time.

"We have to be bold enough to say the truth. We have not been doing well in recent past. I think if we look back ,our downward slide started immediately after we won the AFCON.

"We haven't been the same since then. We have been going down in terms of performance. There are a lot of factors we need to look at.

"My predecessors did their part, but we need to do more. It is nobody's fault that we are where we are today. It is football."