Zambia's head coach Ian Bakala says his side is prepared to 'go to war' as they take on South Africa in a crucial Group B clash of the TotalEnergies U17 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Constantine on Wednesday.
Zambia and South Africa clash in a feisty COSAFA region derby, with the two sides in desperate need of victory to keep their hopes of making the last eight alive.
The Young Chipolopolo have already beaten South Africa twice when they met in the qualifiers for the COSAFA region last year, but Bakala knows it will not be an easy task beating them a third time.
"Beating them twice was already difficult and achieving a third win will be very tough. Of course we will not take the same approach we took in the two games we played against them. It will be a difficult game and we are going in with nothing to lose. We expect the tempo to be very high and it will be war. It won't be easy. The boys will fight," said Bakala.
He has disclosed that they will be going for an early goal to settle their nerves and ensure they have the control of the game first.
Bakala also says they have addressed issues from their opening day loss against Nigeria, majorly on their finishing and ability to take chances.
"The major undoing is that we were in so much of a hurry when we got infront of goal. Now we need to be more composed and we will see more goals," he said.
Defender Lweendo Chimuka knows as much, that it will be a tough game, having played against the South Africans in the qualifiers.
"We know how tough they are and we know what is expected of us. We were lacking goals from our first game despite playing well and we have addressed that in training. We want to do well and collect the points," said the Athletico Lusaka fullback.
