U-20 Start COSAFA Title Defence

By MOSES CHIMFWEMBE -
ZAMBIA’s quest for a fourth successive COSAFA Youth Championship title gets underway today with a seemingly easy but tricky Group C opening match Namibia at the Mafeteng Stadium in Lesotho.
Coach Osward Mutapa will be eyeing a good start to take command of the group that has regional nemesis in South Africa and Islanders Seychelles who play each other in an early fixture at 14:00 hours.
Zambia, who have won the last successive competitions, take on Namibia in a 16:30 hours clash to be beamed live on SuperSport Select channel. Zambia are favoured on paper to collect maximum points off a Namibian side that is coming into the tournament with a point to prove.
Mutapa, who is eyeing to win his second title as coach after his 2009 triumph, would be banking on the attacking prowess of strikers Ronald Chibwe, Patson Daka, Jonathan Manongo and Benedict Chepeshi to keep the team on track on a fourth consecutive title.
In Mofya Lwandamina, Timothy Sakala, Alex Mwamba and Kapota Kayawe is where Mutapa would be expecting to form a barricade in the backline to contain any threat from the Young Warriors.
Mutapa has not left any stone unturned as he drafted in 18-year-old Austin Banda and exciting attacking midfielder Lubambo Musonda in the squad to add more steel and creativity in the midfield that include Spencer Sautu, Langson Mbewe and Ackim Mumba.
“I am confident the early preparations will help us overcome this tough group. We do not need to underrate our opponents but need to work hard to achieve our desired result,” Mutapa said.
The Namibian camp is equally upbeat ahead of the clash with coach Ronnie Kanalelo looking forward to upset tables against the defending champions.
Kanalelo, a former Brave Warriors’ goalkeeper, has planned to play a very high-tempo game to suffocate the Zambians with speed to score the needed goals but is, however, mindful of the quality of the opponents in the seemingly group of death.

Posted by Editor on December 4, 2013. 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