Zambia coach Kalusha Bwalya refuted comments slamming his team for their early exit from the African Cup of Nations. "I don't think that's fair," Bwalya was quoted as saying by BBC Sport. "This team, including the technical team, has made lots of sacrifices." "I think some of the statements have been made out of context because we don't expect anyone who knows the game to make statements like those," said Bwalya. Deputy Sports Minister of Zambia, Richard Kazala was among those who strongly criticized the team's coaching staff and said that the government offered all the help it could, including a training camp in France. Bwalya contested such statements, noting the obvious development made by the Zambian team. "I think you have to be realistic and look at the progress of our team over the last two years. You can't just throw that out of the window," explained the Zambian boss. "People should think hard before they make statements because we are all disappointed with the results." Zambia suffered two successive defeats in the round-robin stage of the African Cup, falling to Tunisia 4-1 and Guinea 2-1 despite initiating the scoring in both matches. "We have come with a team that we expected to go through to the second round but everything has to be placed into perspective," Bwalya said. "We controlled most of the games against both Tunisia and Guinea and only lost in the last few minutes of both games due to a lack of concentration." Zambia will face South Africa in a final group C match on Monday however both teams have no hope in making the quarter-finals.
