Zambia suffered their first defeat against Niger on Tuesday in a 2-1 loss in Marrakesh on match day two of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers and coach Avram Grant congratulated Niger for their win over the Chipolopolo boys, a defeat that put a dent in their hopes of making their first World Cup appearance. Speaking in a post-match interview, the former Chelsea manager said that his team deserved at least a draw from the match, even though he went on to say that there is no such thing as deserving in football. "They [Niger] fought very well; congratulations to them. We didn't play our normal game, even though I think we deserved a draw, but there is no deserving in football; they scored two goals and we scored one," said Grant. Chipolopolo's defeat at the hands of Niger was their first loss in competitive matches under Avram Grant since his appointment as their coach last year, and he believes his team will move past the disappointment. "It's the first time the team is losing under me, so the most important thing is to recover, and when we recover we will have a good team," Grant said. Despite accepting defeat, Grant condemned the match referee, Abdulrazg Ahmed of Libya, for his decisions during the match, as he ignored some fouls, and the first goal appeared to be scored by a player who was clearly offside. "There were so many fouls that the referee didn't give us, including in the box, in the last ten minutes. The referee also helped them. Normally, I don't speak about referees, but this time, let's say it was not a good day. I will be very gentle, but we need to look at ourselves; we lost the game, and we are looking forward to the next game," Grant said. Zambia will return to their World Cup qualifying campaign in June of next year when they face the now group E leaders, Morocco, away in Morocco.