Zambian trainer says team still has potential

Head coach of the Zambia national soccer team Honor Janza said on Tuesday that the team still has a lot of potential despite bowing out of the Africa Cup of Nations tournament during the preliminary stage.

Zambia bowed out of Africa's soccer showpiece after drawing with Cape Verde in their final Group B game, having drawn against Democratic Republic of Congo and losing to Tunisia.

But the coach said the team has a lot of players who needed to be nurtured for future engagements, adding that the young players in the team learnt something from the tournament.

"Yes it is sad but let us be positive that the future looks bright for our team, the young boys we came with here will be a force in African football in the next two to three years," he said, according to a statement posted on the country's soccer governing body, the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) Facebook page.

Kalusha Bwalya, the head of the soccer governing body, said the young players should get positives from their participation at the tournament and utilize their experience for future tournaments.

But supporters have blamed the coach over the team's poor performance at the tournament.

Supporters have accused the trainer of having left out experienced players and opting to use inexperienced players at a serious competition.

"He should have taken the older players because experience matters at such tournaments," Sunday Mbewe, a Lusaka-based supporter said.

This is the second time that the team was being eliminated in the preliminary stages since winning the 2012 tournament. The team was eliminated in the preliminary stage during the 2013 tournament hosted by South Africa. Endite