The tactician has hinted the player might be considered for the Afcon game against Botswana in November
Zambia coach Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic has stated the Clatous Chama issue ‘was blown out of proportion.’
The 2019/20 Tanzania Mainland League Most Valuable Player (MVP) alongside his compatriot from Azam FC Obrey Chirwa failed to join the Chipolopolo team for the Malawi, Kenya, and now South Africa friendlies. The tactician was so mad to the point that he said the duo will not be involved with the national team until further notice.
However, it seems the Serbian has changed his stance regarding the two players if his recent sentiments are anything to go by.
“We are focused on this group of players and [Chama] is one of the players who is proven [for international assignments],” Micho told Goal.
“In any way, he could not reach on time for our departure because of Covid-19 testing and this was the reason [why he failed to join the team]. Just that people have blown it out of proportion.”
The 51-year-old has now stated the midfielder will be considered for the forthcoming assignments, most probably the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifying doubleheader against Botswana.
“For me, [Chama] is one of the regular members of the team and we are looking forward to having him in our future assignments.”
Micho helped Chipolopolo to a 1-0 win at home over the Flames of Malawi on October 7, before falling 2-1 to Kenya on Friday three days later, a game which the tactician was not happy with especially on officiating.
“You can lose the game but deep inside you feel sweet; one thing is we dominated and over dominated the Kenya team at their home despite conceding especially the second goal from the counter-attack,” the tactician said.
“We also scored a genuine goal and those who feel we do not need VAR in the game got the answers because [the disallowed goal] is comedy. At this level, it should not be happening.
“But in football, it is you either win or learn the lesson and on our part, we have learned. We shall not look at the obvious intentional mistake by the assistant referee but we shall have to go and sit and assess ourselves critically.”
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