‘CHAN Positions Up For Grabs’

NATIONAL team coach George Lwandamina says no player is guaranteed a position in the African Nations Championship (CHAN) final squad.
And under-23 national team coach Fighton Simukonda said teenage striker Conlyde Luchanga will be part of the squad at the Senegal Africa Under-23 Championship kicking off on November 28.
Lwandamina said in an interview in Lusaka on Monday that qualifying the team for the 2016 Rwanda CHAN finals does not automatically guarantee any player a position in the final team.
He said the technical bench will base the selection on hard work, discipline and performance.
“CHAN is different from the Africa Cup of Nations. We have a very big pool of local players in the league, so if one gets too comfortable, he is bound to lose his position.
“They have to continue working hard, be disciplined and humble themselves then they will have it easy to continue where they have left failure to which other players will take over from them because it is open,” Lwandamina said.
He said qualification to the CHAN finals shows that Zambia has a rich depth of players who are able to defend the country’s integrity.
Lwandamina advised young players to remain disciplined and humble themselves.
Zambia bashed Mozambique 4-1 on aggregate to qualify for the CHAN finals.
And Simukonda has drafted Luchanga in the under-23 national team.
He, however, said the 17-year-old will not be rushed but given chance to develop.
Zambia are in Group A alongside South Africa, Tunisia and hosts Senegal.
Meanwhile, Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) president Kalusha Bwalya has congratulated the national team for qualifying for the CHAN finals adding the association has shifted focus to next month’s 2018 Russia World Cup qualifier against Sudan.
Zambia face Sudan on November 14 in Khartoum and four days later host the North Africans.
“Now that we have qualified to the CHAN finals, we have shifted our attention to the World Cup qualifying match against Sudan,” he said from Cairo yesterday.
Kalusha said the association is working hard to ensure both the Chipolopolo and the under-23 national team excel in their respective competitions.
And Kalusha is saddened by the death of Chipolopolo defender Dauti Musekwa’s father.
Musekwa senior, who died last Friday, was put to rest in Mufulira yesterday.
Dauti was with the national team in Maputo.

Posted by Editor on October 29, 2015. 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