Musonda begs fans as Chambeshi sees bright future in Chipolopolo
By MICHAEL MIYOBA CHIPOLOPOLO
coach BestonChambeshi says the team has a bright future after going through a rough patch which saw them miss three consecutive Africa Cup of Nations and the 2022 Qatar World Cup. In a pre-match press conference ahead of today’s dead-rubber World Cup qualifier against Mauritania, Chambeshi said the players have made a lot of progress to turn things around at national team level. Chambeshi said he was happy with the commitment shown by the players in camp for the Mauritania fixture. He said as a country we have to bank on foreign-based players who are playing well and being perfect examples to other players. Chambeshi said for Zambia to return to its glory days, more players will have to be exported to foreign leagues where they can gain the exposure needed to compete at the highest level. He said there is need to emulate other countries which are doing well because of having enough exposed players from foreign leagues. “We are in a process of coming up with the team not rebuilding. Because now we thank God that the boys who are playing outside the country are playing well that’s where we are banking our strength now. “The more we expose our players the more we will come up with a strong team. And for sure I have that vision things will work with the way we are moving with our foreign players, for sure there will be a change in our football,” Chambeshi said. Chambeshi hinted that he would make changes to the team that played Equatorial Guinea last month with Enock Mwepu and Edward Chilufya ruled out because of injury while Fashion Sakala, Patson Daka, Emmanuel Banda, Klings Kangwa, Evans Kangwa and Cletus Chama are all available for selection. Chambeshi has noted that the Chipolopolo will fight to give the fans something to smile about in the remaining two games against Mauritania and Tunisia despite being out of the race to qualify for the World Cup. Meanwhile, Chipolopolo skipper Lubambo Musonda has called on fans not to give up on the Chipolopolo who he said were ready for Mauritania. Musonda said the players would work hard to give the fans something they deserve in the remaining games against Mauritania and Tunisia. And Mauritania coach George Buscher who replaced Corentin Da Silva who was fired last month said his charges were ready and they would do anything possible to beat Zambia. Buscher said that despite the two teams having failed to qualify for the World Cup, the clash against Zambia was crucial as it would be used to prepare for the Africa Cup scheduled for January 2022. And Mauritanian captain Adama Ba, who is Cletus Chama’s team mate at RS Berkane, said Mauritania was not bothered about Zambia’s record of having players who are breaking records in the EPL and the Europa League. Mauritania are winless in group B where they are on fourth position with one point while Zambia are third in Group B with four points from one win, two defeats and one draw.
