By 
Zambia crashed out of the TotalEnergies African Nations Championship (CHAN) PAMOJA 2024 after suffering a third consecutive defeat, going down 3-1 to a dominant Morocco in a match punctuated by VAR controversy at Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi.
Avram Grant’s side sit at the bottom of Group A without a point, having lost to Congo DR, Angola, and Morocco, conceding seven goals while scoring only twice.
The Zambian coach questioned the use of VAR after Senegalese referee Aldabert Diouf allowed Morocco’s second goal to stand despite what Grant believed was a foul on the Zambian defender, while a similar incident in Morocco’s box saw Zambia’s goal disallowed.
Read more: Zambia’s CHAN 2024 hopes fading after 2-1 defeat to Angola
“The second half we came strong, and then we conceded the second that the referee decided was a goal, but I don’t know if there was VAR or why they don’t use it, yet they use it against us,” said Grant during the post-match media conference.
Despite the loss, Grant highlighted positives from Zambia’s CHAN campaign, commending the effort of every player and the improvements shown with each game.
“We have seen this Zambian team making progress. We defended well in the first half except for set pieces, which is how we conceded the goal in the last minute of the first half… The players gave everything,” he said.
Grant explained that the primary objective of CHAN was to prepare players for the senior national team, noting that while winning was important, it was not the main goal.
The Atlas Lions opened the scoring in stoppage time of the first half through Mohamed Hrimat. Zambia responded after the break, introducing Charles Zulu and Andrew Phiri to boost their attacking threat.
They thought they had equalised in the 65th minute when Happy Nsiku headed the ball into the net, but VAR ruled the goal out for a foul in the build-up.
Within a minute, Morocco doubled their lead through Lamlaoui, before Phiri pulled one back for Zambia after reacting quickest to a header from Kabaso Chongo that had been cleared off the line.
Morocco substitute Sabir Bougrine sealed the 3-1 win four minutes into added time, boosting their hopes of a quarter-final berth.
Zambia will face hosts Kenya in their final Group A game on Sunday.
Contributed by By SAMUEL LUKHANDA
WARNING! All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express permission from ZAMBIA MONITOR.
Comments