RODGER KOLA Risks Being DROPPED From AFCON SQUAD

ISRAEL-BASED striker Rodger Kola could be dropped from the national team for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations finals if he does not join the squad by Saturday.
And in his desire to make the team, Kola has had a verbal fight with his team chairman begging, albeit in vain, that he be allowed to join the Chipolopolo in good time.
The national team’s delegation leader Kelvin Mutafu said in an interview from Johannesburg yesterday that coach Herve Renard wants Kola to join the team early so that he can have reasonable time to assess the player before naming his final team for the finals.
Mutafu said the coach is not interested in having Kola after Saturday because there will be no time to assess him and make an informed decision on whether to include him in the final squad.
“I had a chat with the coach, he says if Kola does not come by Saturday, then it is better he stays with his team in Israel. The idea is to have time to look at all the players that have been included in the provisional team before naming the final squad,” Mutafu said.
Renard will announce the final 23-man squad on January 10 and the list will be submitted to CAF on the same day.
Kola has been making frantic efforts to get permission from his club, AS Ashdod, to release him earlier than the mandated FIFA date of January 7 but the chairman has remained adamant because they need him for a crucial league match.
Kola’s agent Nir Karin said yesterday that player went to the chairman’s office to plead that he be allowed to fly immediately to South Africa but the chairman, Ashdod, stood his ground that he will go by the FIFA date, which oblige the club to release the player on January 7.
“He (Kola) was really strong with his chairman, but still Ashdod agreed only to FIFA the date,” Karin said in an email.
An apparently upset Kola didn’t even go for training with the team yesterday.
Karin said he tried his best to help Kola be with the Chipolopolo earlier but his and the player’s efforts failed.
He said, however, that Renard should be considerate of Kola’s peculiar situation and include him in the final team. He said Kola would make a formidable striking partnership with Emmanuel Mayuka, the Swiss-based attacker who previously played in Israel.
“I hope and believe FAZ can understand it (dilemma) and allow him to come. Kola is an experienced player in Europe. This season (he has) made a huge upgrade (improvement),” Karin said.
Releasing Kola after January 7 would give Renard virtually no time to assess the player before he names his final team on January 10.
Mutafu said Renard believes that he has enough strikers in the team and the absence of Kola would have no adverse effect.
“Like the coach has always said, there is no player who is guaranteed a place in the team, that is why he is insisting that he must assess everyone including Kola. We are going to a very important tournament and the coach has to be sure of the players he is travelling with,” he said.
Mutafu, who is also Football Association of Zambia treasurer, said midfielder Justin Zulu, who plays for another Israeli side Hapoel Rishon LeZion, is expected in camp today.
He said the arrival of Zulu will stiffen competition for places in the team.
Mutafu said training is progressing well and all the players are responding well. He said the team has made a lot of progress since it shifted camp to South Africa.
Mutafu said the training facilities that the team is using are good and morale in camp is high.
He urged the Zambians to continue rallying behind the team as they seek to win the coveted continental trophy for the first time.
Mutafu said striker James Chamanga and midfielder Thomas Nyirenda have continued making steady recovery and there is hope that they could make it in the final team.
He said the team has been having two training sessions every day and all the players are showing great determination to excel.

Posted by Editor on January 6, 2012. Filed under SPORTS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry