Zambia admit Bafana too much to handle in Gqeberha

By Mazola Molefe
16th November 2025

Zambia assistant coach Perry Mutapa acknowledged that his side picked up a few lessons from Bafana Bafana, whose cohesion was clear to see during Saturday’s 3-1 friendly defeat at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.

South Africa controlled the match comfortably, despite conceding a late goal after coach Hugo Broos rotated the squad to test new combinations.

Speaking after the game, Mutapa admitted that the Chipolopolo had been thoroughly outclassed.

"We knew coming into the game that this was a really good South African team. Over the last 3-4 years, Hugo Broos has built a good team with a big pool of players to choose from.

"For us as Zambia, we had about 4-5 debutants playing in critical positions on the day."

READ: Hugo Broos hails Teboho Mokoena after 50 caps milestone

Mutapa added that even while aware of Bafana’s strengths, they found them near-impossible to contain.

Zambia are blooding in youth and experience ahead of their own AFCON campaign next month, and Mutapa said this was their focus.

"The biggest positive for us today is all the youngsters who played for the first time. For many of our players, this was a learning experience as we look forward to the future with this new technical team."

Chipolopolo face Angola on Tuesday in another friendly, with Mutapa hoping the team will have corrected most of their errors by then.