THE MICHO 7-POINT MASTER PLAN
Head Coach Milutin Sredojevic was unveiled on the 3rd of February 2020 and in his presser he made it clear that he has a 7 point technical master plan, which left a lot of questions as many did not understand what that meant; here is what he meant:
1) Micho has set the fast track return into contention for the Cameroon 2021 Africa Cup of Nations race by getting to work ahead of the March 2020 back-to-back clashes against Botswana. Zambia hosts Botswana on March 26 before trekking to Gaborone for the return leg four days later. While preparing for the March fixtures against Botswana, Micho has one eye on the April African Nations Championship (CHAN) in Cameroon where Zambia will join 16 other African countries. It is a project that local fans hardly give credit to the Chipolopolo for making it to Cameroon. Micho has already gotten down to work assembling 64 players on the Copperbelt with 32 drawn from the Super League while another 32 are drawn from the National Division One. The same program will be replicated in Lusaka next week. Micho and his technical bench have zoned the country into two zones. Ultimately the team will play two international friendly matches before heading to the CHAN.
2) The second phase of the technical master plan will tackle the 2020 Cosafa championship in May and the return leg against Algeria in June for the Cameroon 2021 campaign. By that point Micho may have already had a clearer picture of the finest of the local and foreign stars after the completion of the first phase.
3) In the third stage of the rescue plan Zambia will focus on the return leg against Zimbabwe which will be the final phase of the Cameroon 2021 Africa Cup of Nations campaign. Perhaps more critical will be the June transfer window where the technical bench will hope to open doors for foreign based players that are not getting game time at their clubs. The players will be encouraged to explore options of trekking to destinations where they can play more regularly and represent the Zambian brand more.
4) The evolution of the Micho doctrine will then graduate into FIFA World Cup qualifiers that commence in October. Micho has romanticized about Qatar 2022 and believes Zambia can be among the global elites should his technical master plan reach fruition. Zambia is in Group H alongside Tunisia, Equatorial Guinea and Mauritania.
5) In the fifth stage of the technical master plan, Micho and his technical bench will have their eyes set on preparations for the Africa Cup of Nations finals in Cameroon. The tournament may take place in January 2021 following a re-think on the original June calendar.
6) The sixth stage of the technical master plan has the final round of Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
7) In the final stage, Micho and his bench believe their plan will culminate into FIFA World Cup appearance in Qatar 2022. If anybody did listen to Micho on his unveiling on February 3, 2020 at Barca Academy they would have every reason to believe the Serbian Wolf means every word he says. After all he did say, “Everything begins with a dream, you must not only dream when you are sleeping but also dream when you are awake.”
It’s safe to say that excitement is in the air and we as lovers and followers of Zambian football are ready!
