Chipolopolo coach Avram Grant says the game against Tanzania will be important for Zambia’s aspirations to qualify to the next round of the Africa Cup of Nations.

Speaking during a pre-match conference, Grant says he was happy with the resilience of his squad against a highly talented DR Congo side in the opening match which ended 1-1.

Grant said the Congo match was behind with Zambia focused on the match against Tanzania tomorrow at 19:00 hours (CAT).

“The most important (thing) in football is the next game, we did a good result in the first game, it was a good performance from the boys for the first game,” he said.

“Zambia did not participate in the Africa Cup for a long time, too long for us, it will not happen again. The first game was against a very strong team, we did well, we scored a goal they equalized. The first game I am happy, but the second game is always very important for us because we want to go to the next round.’

He said Tanzania were a good side that had a good game against Morocco but suffered after being given a red card.

“To be honest I do not know, I know they want to play on the pitch. I was impressed with them, they are hard to beat, I think except the 3-0 against Morocco they were good,” Grant said.

He said that the firing of the Tanzania coach after their opening match would not impact in the match in any way.

“Every coach comes with his ideas I do not know about this coach (interim Tanzania coach), but we need to prepare for everything,” he said.

Grant said that the gap between the tournament’s traditional powerhouses and minnows had been reduced.

“The days when the big teams destroyed the small teams have finished in Europe and in Africa it is finished. The big teams remain the big teams, but others have closed the gap,” he said.

Zambia will play Tanzania on Sunday at the Laurent Pokou Stadium in San Pedro in a 19:00 hours (Zambian time) kick off.

The Chipolopolo drew 1-1 with DR Congo in the opening match while Tanzania suffered a 3-0 loss to Morocco.