.Nyirenda

By SANDRA MWILA –
COACH Wedson Nyirenda says Zambia needs to reclaim its rightful position in the region by winning the COSAFA Senior Challenge that kicks off next month in South Africa.
Nyirenda said in an interview after watching his side beat the Zambia Under-20 4-0 in a practice match at the Heroes National Stadium that the best would be for the team to win the tournament.
He said failure to reach the finals of the COSAFA tournament would be a drawback of last year’s performance where the team finished as runners up.
“The best is to reclaim our position in the region. When you are moving you need to move forward. Last year we reached the finals with a team that had no Zesco or Zanaco players . To me that’s an achievement,” Nyirenda said.
Goals from Ronald ‘Sate Sate’ Kampamba, Clatous Chama, Kelvin Mubanga and Emmanuel Chabula saw the Chipolopolo claim a comfortable win over the Under-20 preparing for their Niger 2019 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) second round first leg qualifier against Rwanda.
Zambia would join the COSAFA competition at quarterfinal stage where they face Namibia, the same team the Chipolopolo would face in September when the Cameroon 2019 Africa AFCON qualifiers get underway.
Nyirenda said Namibia was a strong side that had been using the same team for both the World Cup and AFCON qualifiers.
He urged the players to take the match with caution especially that Zambia has lost twice to Namibia at the COSAFA competition.
Zambia lost 5-4 to Namibia in the quarterfinals at the 2015 COSAFA tournament after the match ended 0-0 and lost 1-0 the following year in the Plate final but reached last year’s final and lost 3-1 to Zimbabwe.
“Playing a team that has been doing better than us gives us more impetus to do better. When playing such teams that are on top of you, you need to be more cautious and disciplined,” Nyirenda said.
He said the team underrated Namibia in the previous encounters which led to the Brave Warriors winning the matches.
Nyirenda added that the new call ups exceeded his expectations and that he achieved his objectives for the three day camp.
Meanwhile, Under-20 assistant coach Charles Bwale said the friendly game helped expose the weakness in the team before they face Rwanda.
“We are still working on the team for now we have 15 players that are good enough to play Rwanda and we need to find three more to make the 18 that will travel,” Bwale said.