Zambia’s head coach Ian Bakala praised his boys despite losing their first match at the U17 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), Nigeria in Constantine on Sunday.

The Zambians lost 1-0 to the two time winners, and Bakala says he saw a lot of positives from the match.

“It is painful to lose a game like this, but it was a tough game. Credit to Nigeria for the win because they used their chance. When you are coming to the first game of the tournament, anything is possible,” Bakala said.

Bakala boys were lucky to lose by a goal as the Nigerians had a goal disallowed and also missed a penalty late on.

The manager refused to fault his players as he says mistakes will always happen at this age.

“There is a lot to do and we will work on the mistakes in training. We will definitely change our story moving forward,” said the coach.

He added; “I am happy with how we have played because physically and tactically, we are in a good place. We looked much better in the second half and hopefully we can carry on that form to our next match.”

Zambia will face South Africa in in their next match.