By SANDRA MWILA and GWEN CHIPASULA –

FOOTBALL Association of Zambia (FAZ) president Kalusha Bwalya has said the Under-23 national team needs a bit of luck to qualify to the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
Meanwhile, Lumwana Radiants playmaker Gozon Mutale has been called to the Under-23 squad after starring in the Barclays Cup quarter-final match against Zanaco on Sunday.
Kalusha said while the dream to qualify the Under-23 squad to the Rio Games was achievable, Zambia still needed some stroke of luck to reach the Olympics for the first time in 28 years.
The FAZ chief was confident that Zambia would make another appearance at the Olympics next year, having last featured at the multi-sports spectacle in 1988.
“The Rio dream is alive and we will need luck to qualify to the Rio Olympics. In my opinion, I am confident Zambia will make it,” Kalusha said.
Zambia will need to finish on top of Group A at the 2015 African Under-23 Championship to stand any realistic chance of making the Rio Olympics.
Fighton Simukonda’s men were drawn in Group A against hosts Senegal, Tunisia and South Africa at the continental championship kicking off on November 28.
Kalusha said the tournament had come at the right time when Zambia had a stronger team which had been participating in several international competitions.
He said that playing in Senegal was also an advantage to the Zambian side as some Under-20 players were part of the team that participated at the 2015 African Youth Championship in the West African nation.
“The tournament has come at a right time when the team is participating in several tournaments. Most players that are in the Under-23 will feature for the World Cup and CHAN (African Nations Championship) qualifiers which will help them during the Senegal championship,” Kalusha said.
He said the team needed to get a minimum four points to advance in the competition and have a chance of going to Rio.
Africa’s top three at the Senegal event will qualify to the Olympics.
Meanwhile, Simukonda has summoned Mutale who was impressive for Lumwana in the Barclays Cup despite the Division One North side losing 0-3 to Zanaco at Nkoloma Stadium in Lusaka.
Speaking after the first training session at National Heroes Stadium, Simukonda said since Mutale was in the right age limit, he felt compelled to give the Solwezi-based player his first-ever national team call.
In that match against Zanaco, Mutale was voted man of the match and earned himself K1,000 from Barclays Bank.
Simukonda said the technical bench wanted to give chance to all capable players because the road to Rio De Janeiro Olympics would not be easy.
“It is a very serious tournament and we want to be more than ready for it. And I am happy that everyone we called is in,” he said.
FAZ communications manager Nkweto Tembwe said Mutale was expected to join the Under-23 squad in training today.
The Under-23 squad will be training for three days in every week to monitor the players’ progression.
Simukonda said this decision would see the squad break camp on Thursday and regroup on October 4 when they would again train for three days until the team departs for Senegal.
“We want to monitor the players. We have started training so early because this will be a serious tournament. We shall be training three days in a week till we go,” he said.
Green Buffaloes striker Friday Samu sat-out of training yesterday because of a sore on his toe which the coach described as manageable.