By CHINOYI CHIPULU
The in-form Chipolopolo striker Patson Daka says the 2-0 victory against Zimbabwe will give the team confidence ahead of the 2022 Qatar World Cup qualifiers getting underway in June.
The Red Bull Salzburg forward Daka scored a brace on Monday night as Zambia overcame Zimbabwe at National Sports Stadium in Harare.
Daka said in a post-match interview that he is looking forward to the World Cup qualifier and yesterday’s win over Zimbabwe will give them direction going forward.
“We have been looking forward to the World Cup qualifiers and today’s game was the start of the process and is going to give us the direction going forward. Today’s game is going to give us direction in the World Cup qualifiers going forward,” he said.
Zambia are in Group B for the World Cup qualifiers together with Tunisia, Mauritania and Equatorial Guinea.
Daka said beating Zimbabwe has shown that the team was just not in Harare to fulfill the fixture but were determined to give the best to the country.
“Despite us winning, it was a very emotional day for us, knowing that we couldn’t go to the AFCON and it’s one thing that we were looking forward to but unfortunately that was not the plan from God and we just have to accept what has happened.
“I think today we have shown that we did not just come here to play but to give the best for the country and we played as a team and at the end of the day we got a positive result which was very important for our confidence going forward,” he said.
Monday’s brace took his tally in the campaign to five goals having also contributed a double against Algeria last Thursday in a 3- all draw at Heroes Stadium in Lusaka.
Daka’s other goal in the campaign was against Zimbabwe in a reverse fixture in Lusaka last year.
Zimbabwe won 2-1 at National Heroes Stadium.
However despite scoring a brace in Harare, Daka did not want to take all the credit but instead saluted his teammates for their efforts.
“Scoring a brace is not very important to me, I would not have done it alone, it was the team effort, if my teammates were not there to support me.I would not have scored so I give credit to my team. We played as a team and we helped each other and at the end of the day I was just found at the right place, at the right time to be able to help the team,” he said.
Zambia, the 2012 African Champions have now failed to qualify to the finals for the third time in a row.
The Chipolopolo last participated at the tournament in 2015 under Honour Janza.
