Chipolopolo Boys coach Avram Grant has said that Zambia will be tough to play against at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) despite being drawn in a difficult group with Morocco, Tanzania, and DR Congo. Speaking to the media from the Chipolopolo base in Dubai, Grant said that Morocco is the best team in Africa, but Zambia is also a good team and will be tough to beat. "It's a very tough draw but any draw is not so easy," Grant said. "Morocco is the best team in Africa; they showed it in the World Cup. Congo DR is a very good team, and Tanzania is improving a lot. So it's tough to play against them, but our target is that it will be tough to play against us as well." Zambia will face Morocco and Tanzania in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. Grant said that drawing Morocco and Tanzania in both the AFCON and World Cup qualifiers is strange, but he is determined to get something from both games. "It's very, very strange," Grant said. "I don't know what to say; this is what we get. We will try to do our best with it." Grant said that Zambia needs to prepare well for the AFCON, both on and off the pitch. "We need to have good preparation," Grant said. "We need to organize everything on the pitch and off the pitch. We need to learn from our mistakes. On the pitch, there are lots of good things, and off the pitch, people are trying. But I think if we go to the AFCON with good preparation, it will be good, and the preparation starts now." However, Grant said that Zambia will focus on building their own team rather than paying too much attention to their group opponents. "What we try to do is build our team on our own," Grant said. "It's not necessary to think too much about the opponent. And I think we are improving in this aspect. I saw yesterday's game; we played against the top team in Africa, Egypt. We created chances against them, we played well, and we showed that we have something to offer. Even though we missed some key players (Zambia was missing the services of Italian-based winger Lameck Banda and Scottish-based defender Frankie Musonda due to injury), we still performed well. With a little bit of luck, it could have been a different result. But it was a good test, and we showed that we can compete with any team." The AFCON tournament will kick off on January 13, 2023.