By MICHAEL MIYOBA
THE Zambia national soccer team has assembled in the United Arab Emirates for the two international friendly matches against Egypt and Uganda on October 12 and 17 respectively.
FAZ president Andrew Kamanga said the friendly games against could not be played on home soil due to the state of local stadia.
“We have taken note of the cry for fans to watch these friendly matches on home soil but regrettably our current stadia situation makes it hard to host a FIFA-sanctioned match. Given the limited time to regroup, it becomes logical to settle for a place that is easily accessible to players travelling from Europe and other regions,” Kamanga said.
The FAZ chief reaffirmed the association’s commitment to prepare teams with quality friendly matches.
“We are conscious that with the FIFA World Cup qualifiers coming up in November and the Africa Cup of Nations kicking off in January we will not have many opportunities to play quality friendly matches,” he said.
FAZ is also keeping its fingers crossed for this Thursday’s Ivory Coast 2023 Africa Cup of Nations draws taking place in Abidjan.
“The draw will help us refine our plans for preparations so that we align them to the kind of opposition in our group,” Kamanga said.
Meanwhile, Kamanga has cautioned the Under-20 national women’s team technical bench led by coach Charles Haalubono to seal the gaps observed in the 2-2 stalemate against Congo DR in the second round first leg fixture of the Colombia 2024 U-20 World Cup qualifier.
Kamanga said the race to progress to the next qualifying round is far from over for the Under-20 stars who will be travelling to Congo for the reverse fixture slated for next weekend.
He also hailed the senior Copper Queens for beating Angola to dominate Group B at the ongoing COSAFA Championship.
“We are very excited that the Copper Queens technical bench has cast the net wide to give previously untested players a chance to showcase their talent. With Olympic and WAFCON qualifiers ahead we believe that this will help in the regenerating of our team,” he said.
Kamanga added that the atmosphere is ripe for the start of a new cycle of a women’s team that will write its own story.
He also noted that FAZ would not drop its guard to training match officials after facilitating the training of 35 FIFA female refs from the 10 provinces.
