Zambia Captain Rainford Kalaba Claims Iheanacho, Iwobi, Mikel Scared Them

Zambia Captain Rainford Kalaba has said several of his teammates were frightened playing against Nigeria’s stars which accounted for the early goals they conceded in the 2-1 loss to the Super Eagles in the 2018 World Cup qualifying match in Ndola on Sunday.

Kalaba said that some of the younger players in the team could not cope with the fact they were playing against those stars they were watching in the English Premier League every week. He said the damage had already been done before they could adjust to the game conditioning.

Arsenal’s Alex Iwobi and Manchester City’s Kelechi Iheanacho scored for Nigeria in the first half and their performances were complemented by another EPL stars including Captain Mikel Obi of Chelsea, Ahmed Musa who plays for English champions, Leicester City, while Brown Ideye who led the Eagles’ attack once featured for West Brom before moving to Olympiacos in Greece.

“Some of the guys were scared of playing against Nigeria’s experienced players based in Europe because they always watch them every weekend in the English Premier League and when they saw them live, it was often difficult for them to concentrate on the game,” said the TP Mazembe star.

“In the first half some of the guys were a bit scared, but in the second half we all saw how things went and we controlled the game.”