World Cup (Q): Defiant Grant says Zambia were better than Morocco despite defeat

Zambia national team coach Avram Grant believes the Chipolopolo were the better side than Morocco despite going down 2-0 in their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying fixture at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola, on Monday.

The victory enabled the Atlas Lions to continue with their 100% winning record in the group. Goals by Youssef En Nesyri and Hamza Igamane in both halves respectively were enough to officially end Zambia’s slim chances of making it to the playoffs of the qualifiers.

“But of course football is about mistakes, the mistake in the first half was the only chance of Morocco but I think Zambia can be proud at the end of the day,” said Grant. “We are not one of the top teams in Africa, like we want to be, but we are on the way to being there and you saw a strong team and a good team but sometimes it happens.”

He added, “Morocco is number 24 in the world and one of the first two teams in Africa, they came here but we were much better than them. As a coach it is difficult to analyse this game because on the football side we closed them down and they did not create any chances.

“They didn’t score from the attack but from the first goal where we made a mistake and second from 30 meters that we were not awake and these were the only two chances from Morocco.”

The former Chelsea manager added: “We are trying because we don’t have enough players in Europe but now we have young players that play in Spain and Italy they are our future. You can agree with me that players from Europe are better because of the better pitches and better intensity against better players.

“This is a fact, we play at different times in this game, but look, Zambia has never gone to the FIFA world cup and I don’t believe that you just push a button and we will be at the World Cup.”

Zambia will wind up the FIFA World Cup campaign next month against Niger and Tanzania.

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