Coronavirus: 'We must not underrate this invisible opponent' - Sredojevic

Zambia national team head coach Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic has warned the coronavirus epidemic should not be underrated in any way.

Urging the need to observe what health practitioners prescribe, the former Ugandan national team coach said society must first overcome the pandemic before thinking about anything else.

“I would like to say here, to all of us to follow the guidance from the medical experts through the Ministry of Health. We must not underrate this invisible opponent that is in front of us which is the first match we need to win,” Sredojevic was quoted by the Football Association of Zambia's Facebook page as saying.

“To win we need mental strength and generate positive energy that we are human beings and we have common sense inside ourselves and following medical advice and be extremely disciplined and responsible.

“When you are coming in this situation, this is the road where you are at crossroads, you can be reactive and say 'let us sit and wait' or be proactive that we shall sit together with the technical team and leadership in FAZ and draw a strategic master plan over this crisis of Covid-19 that we oversee the whole situation.”

The former Orlando Pirates and Yanga SC coach also revealed the steps they have taken, together with the federation, to help the players cope with the challenges presented by the disease.

“After having an overview of the situation, we have set goals for the players and the team through this trauma and torture,” he said.

"We are also suffering so we need to generate positive energy as leaders to try to inject in our players' belief that discipline with seriousness can uproot, not be complacent toward this terrible situation."

“We have to find a way to come out of the problem. We have decided to make our players theoretically aware, mentally strong, and physically fit and most importantly guide them on how to pass time while in isolation.”

Zambia suspended all football activities amid the pandemic and Sredojevic was also forced to break the national team training camp in preparation for the African Nations Championship tournament.

They had also planned to engage in a tri-national tournament against Uganda and Mali in mid-March in Kampala before the event was suspended.