Avram Grant says no excuses after Zambia’s humiliation in Russia

Avram Grant: Photo Credit: Russian Football Union.

Zambia coach Avram Grant says he has no excuses for Tuesday’s humiliating 5-0 loss to hosts Russia at VTB Arena in a friendly played in the European country.

In a post-match interview with the Russian Football Union (RFU), the Israeli said limited training sessions affected Zambia’s performance, but he did not want to use that as an excuse.

“Congratulations Russia on their victory; they played well! I don’t want to make excuses that we only had one good training session and we were missing several players due to technical problems,” he is quoted as saying.

“For us, this match was a good opportunity to test ourselves, we gained good experience in this match. I would also like to thank the RFU for their hospitality.”

The depleted Chipolopolo traveled to face the Russians to make up for the non-involvement in the World Cup qualifiers in the last two weeks.

Grant’s men received tough lessons from the clinical Russians who led 2-0 at the break courtesy of Maksim Glushenkov eighth and Ilia Vakhania’s 44th-minute strikes.

The hosts dashed hopes of the visitors’ comeback when they scored three more in the second half through Maksim Glushenkov who grabbed his brace with a 53rd-minute goal before making it a hattrick five minutes later.

A defensive lapse saw substitute Aleksey Batrakov score Russia's fifth goal of the game in the 73rd minute. Chipolopolo used the game against Russia to remain active after their opponents in the World Cup qualifiers Eritrea and Congo Brazzaville withdrew and were suspended.

Zambia were without players such as Leicester City striker Patson Daka, Italy-based midfielder Lameck Banda, defenders Frank Musonda (United Kingdom) and Stoppila Sunzu who plays club football in China due to reasons such as injuries and travel hitches.