Zambia’s Chipolopolo tactician George “Chicken” Lwandamina fell short of blaming the artificial grass at the Stade Municipal de Lome for yesterday’s 1-0 loss to Togo’s Sparrow Hawks in a friendly.

Standard Liege’s Mathieu Dossevi scored the only goal of the game eight minutes to the half hour mark from a brilliant solo effort.

Speaking at a press conference after the match, the experienced gaffer reckoned it took them a while to master the surface since they are used to playing on natural grass back at home.

“We are not used to artificial turf so we had to take time before getting into the game,” Lwandamina said.

Astro turfs can weigh down on those not familiar with it, as it’s known to heat up – it also requires more accurate passing to check on the speed of the ball.

The 53 years old former Mufulira Wonderers defender however acknowledged his side had a good game overall – with a few areas to fine tune ahead of AFCON 2017 Qualifiers in June.

“I saw a good game. And I think we can work on a few things here and there before Guinea Bissau.”

Chipolopolo visits Guinea Bissau on June 4 for a must win AFCON 2017 Qualifier return leg, while Togo who are also in a similar situation will play Liberia away a day later.

The Southern Africans are placed second in group “E” with six points same as Congo Brazzaville who are third – Guinea Bissau are top with seven points.

It was a dream start for new Togo Coach Claude Le Roy. The French man replaced Tom Saintfiet in April this year with the sole aim of getting the west Africans back on track in the road to Gabon 2017 after a shaky start.

Leroy whose vast experience in the African game is unmatched, can now look forward to the Liberia game with confidence knowing nothing less than a win could end their campaign. The match also saw the return of former skipper Emmanuel Adebayor since 2015; the lanky striker who plays for Crystal Palace in the English Premier League ditched the national side after falling out with Saintfiet.

Togo are third in group “A” with seven points, two points less than leaders Liberia.

@bonfaceosano

Bonface Osano

African Football Writer contributing @Soka25east | Commentator; appeared on @MySoccerAfrica, @KweseSports, @ntvkenya, others | Keen follower of African Football. E-mail: bonfaceosano@gmail.com