By MICHAEL MIYOBA
THE Zambia Under-20 national team has dedicated their 1-0 win over Botswana in yesterday’s TotalEnergies U20 AFCON Egypt 2023/COSAFA qualifier to Enock Mwepu who has been forced to retire prematurely after being diagnosed with a hereditary heart condition.
Speaking in an interview after the Junior Chipolopolo qualified to the quarter finals of the ongoing tournament as group winners after edging Botswana at Mavuso Stadium in eSwatini, Under-20 coach Chisi Mbewe said the team felt of honouring Mwepu with a win after the devastating news.
“This is game we dedicated to our super star Enock Mwepu who had his career cut short because of health matters and we felt that we needed to win for him.
“Coming to the game, it wasn’t an easy game they gave us a lot of headache and I’m happy with the way the boys resisted. We scored an early goal but Botswana never stopped coming at us and gave us a good run and pushed us up to the final whistle but I’m happy with the way we responded,” Mbewe said.
Kingstone Mutandwa’s third minute goal was all the junior Chipolopolo needed to finish group A with an unbeaten record having beaten Mauritius and hosts eSwatini in the first two games.
The win over Botswana propelled Zambia to nine points, three points ahead of eSwatini who finished second with six points.
Meanwhile, Zambia Under-23 coach Oswald Mutapa says preparations for the 2023 second round, first leg Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Sierra Leone are progressing well.
The U23 will face Uganda next Tuesday at Nkoloma Stadium in an international friendly match before heading to Monrovia for the Morocco 2023 second round, first leg Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Sierra Leone.
Mutapa said the international friendly match against Uganda next Tuesday will help him gauge the strength of his charges.
Speaking after the morning training session at Nkoloma Stadium, Mutapa disclosed that in-form MUZA striker Andrew Phiri had been drafted in the squad as a replacement for the injured Ricky Banda.
Mutapa said the international match will be important in seeing how much progress has been made by the team before playing Sierra Leone in Liberia.
Zambia plays Sierra Leone over two legs with the winner facing either Egypt or eSwatini in the final qualifying round for the Morocco 2023 Africa Cup of Nations which will serve as a qualifier for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Under-20 dedicate win to Mwepu
