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Zambia FA chief rues exit from Africa Youth Championship

Xinhua, December 2, 2015 Adjust font size:

The head of Zambia's soccer governing body on Wednesday expressed sadness over the Under-23 national team's exit from the CAF Africa Cup of Nations in Senegal.

The junior Chipolopolo were booted out after losing 3-2 to South Africa on Tuesday. The loss came after another 2-1 loss to Tunisia on Saturday during the first game.

Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) president Kalusha Bwalya said the team lost because it did not take the opportunities.

"In a most important match, we let ourselves down," he said.

"In the first half we seemed to be in control and after we scored there was not so much danger coming from South Africa," he said in a statement posted on the association's website.

The 1988 African footballer of the year said the team bowed out of the tournament with some lessons and has implored the players to recover from the poor performance.

Head coach Fighton Simukonda also expressed sadness at the defeat.

"I am very disappointed with the performance of our team," he said. "We played so well in the first half and I thought we were going to finish them off in the second half. Unfortunately, things did not go our way."

The trainer said his team will try to redeem themselves during the game against Senegal.

Zambia scored in the 34th minute through striker Conlyde Luchanga but South Africa scored three goals in seven minutes in the 46th, 52nd and 54th minute. Zambia pulled one back in the 73rd minute but South Africa held on to their advantage to seal victory.

The loss shattered Zambia's dream of participating at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Zambia, who are bottom of Group A without a single point, will now be playing for pride in their final match against hosts Senegal on Friday. Endi