. Janza

By KALUMIANA KALUMIANA  and SANDRA MWILA –
CHIPOLOPOLO coach Honour Janza has backed some of his off-form Chipolopolo players to hit top form before the Equatorial Guinea 2015 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals gets underway on January 17.
Janza said that he was also happy that the locally-based players that looked rusty on Monday when the team regrouped had started showing signs of improvements as players fight to be in the 26-man squad.
He said he was hopeful that midfielder and Chipolopolo vice-captain Nathan Sinkala will hit top form before the AFCON starts despite seeing very little action at Swiss club Grasshopper.
Sinkala has not played any competitive game at Grasshopper prior to Zambia’s Group F qualifiers away and at home against Niger in October.
Janza said in an interview that his bench were also monitoring defender Stopilla Sunzu’s recovery and are also happy that Emmanuel Mayuka is getting some game time in England.
“It’s always a worry for the coach but I think we have to design his training programme to suit Nathan when he comes. I would have been worried if he was a bad player or carrying an injury, but for him it is not so difficult to reignite him,” he said.
Janza said a couple of friendly matches was what Sinkala needed to raise his match fitness levels.
“For us, the worry is not like a player with an injury like Sunzu who has an on-off injury but for Nathan it is not a big issue he has played the qualifiers and we will fine tune him with training that will suit him,” Janza said.
Janza said news that Mayuka is getting some game time at Southampton is very motivating for the team.
“We are happy that Mayuka is getting some playing time and if he can maintain that going forward it is good and that goes to all foreign based players. It adds value to our game because we always talk about match fitness but if we see our player getting game time then we get motivated and happy. We believe that with that, it reduces our time of conditioning the players,” he said.
Meanwhile, Janza said he is happy with what he has seen in the local players after two days of training in Lusaka that started yesterday at Heroes National Stadium.
Janza added that recalled defender Bronson Chama’s fitness was looking encouraging.
“The form is excellent of course. Yesterday the players looked rusty but on the second day, they look to be in good spirits and a lot of competitions already and everyone is looking forward to be in the 26 man team. We are impressed with the attitude of all the players,” Janza said.
The Chipolopolo will play a Lusaka select side tomorrow afternoon at National Heroes Stadium.