Zambia coach Honor Janza has warned his players to put their egos aside or face an early exit from the African Nations Cup finals.

The 2012 champions stand on the brink of elimination after a 2-1 loss to Tunisia on Thursday in a game they largely dominated and had more than enough chances to win.

But Janza says his players were too selfish and need to begin playing as a team if they are to win their final game against Cape Verde on Monday.

"It's so painful to lose a match like this one," Janza said. "Sometimes as a coach it's difficult for you to act on certain things that you see in the pitch, some individual players putting their egos first and wanting to win alone instead of passing the ball to others like others did."

For the second game running Zambia took the lead, but could not hold on to their advantage.

Their fate now depends on the outcome of other games in Group B.

What is certain is that they must beat Cape Verde, but then hope that Tunisia take at least a point from their final game against DR Congo.

If Zambia do not make it out of the pool stages it will put the future of Janza under scrutiny.

Despite helping Chipolopolo to qualify for the finals, he remains listed as 'interim' coach and has moaned about not having a full-time contract prior to the tournament.

Football Association of Zambia president, Kalusha Bwalya, gave the coach public backing, but is likely taking a 'wait-and-see' attitude until after the finals to before making a final decision on Janza.