By GWEN CHIPASULA –
FORMER Shepolopolo captain Kabange Mupopo is taking time off her busy schedule to give the national women team tips on how to beat Tanzania in their return leg of the Congo Brazzaville 2015 All Africa Games (AAG) final round qualifier.
The Shepolopolo, who were given a weekend off by coach Albert Kachinga, need to scoring atleast three unanswered goals past Tanzania to progress to the AAG finals after losing the first leg 4-2 at Nkoloma Stadium in Lusaka.
Team manager Besa Chibwe said Mupopo has been visiting the team in training and giving tips on how the Shepolopolo can beat Tanzania.
Mupopo, who is on an 18-month athletics scholarship aimed at helping he prepare for the Rio 2016 Olympics Games to held in Brazil as a runner, captained the team that beat Tanzania to qualify for the Women African Championship held in Namibia last year.
Chibwe said Mupopo was spending a lot of time with the girls giving them hints on how to take down Tanzania on April 10.
“Mupopo has had a positive impact on the players, she has been coming around and advising our girls. It is so motivating because she knows enough about beating Tanzania as she led the team to Namibia last year,” she said.
Realising the importance of the return leg, Chibwe said the team had since shifted training to Olympic Youth Development Centre (OYDC) artificial turf because that will be the kind of pitch to be used at the Azam Sports complex in Dar-Es-Salaam.
Chibwe said the girls were given the weekend off from training so that they can relieve the pressure and also watch today’s Chipolopolo match against Rwanda.
“We have given the girls a weekend off because they need to relax a bit after a tough one week of training. We trained this morning and we shall be back in training on Monday morning,” she said.
The Shepolopolo never broke camp after losing to Tanzania and regroups tomorrow for the April 10 clash.