By SANDRA MWILA –
ZANACO captain Ziyo Tembo has said the game against Tanzanian side, Young Africans ‘Yanga’, will be ‘war’.
The Zambian champions take on the George ‘Chicken’ Lwandamina coached side on the weekend of March 11-12 before hosting them a week later in Lusaka in the first round of the CAF Champions League.
Tembo, who is also Zambian Footballer-of-the-Year, said it will be interesting to face fellow Zambian players in the likes of Justin Zulu and Aubrey Chirwa who are with the Tanzanian giants.
Lwandamina, a former Chipolopolo and Zesco United coach, is assisted at Yanga by former Green Buffaloes captain Noel Mwandila.
“The game against Yanga will be war. Playing some of our fellow Zambians will not be easy and friendship will only come after the game,” Tembo said.
He said the game against Yanga will be tough but that his teammates will be equal to the task.
Tembo said Yanga might have started their journey in the Champions League on a high but that has not sent any shivers down the Zanaco players’ spins.
Yanga eliminated Ndaya of Comoros with a 6-2 aggregate while Zanaco just got a 1-0 win over Rwanda Patriotic Army in two legs.
“The score line doesn’t scare us, we can beat them in their own backward,” said Tembo, who won three awards during the club awards ceremony at the weekend.
He said his team’s target was to first get into the group stage and then dream from there.
Exciting midfielder Seth Sakala bluntly said his aim was to win the Champions League title.
Sakala said nothing was impossible if the team prepared adequately for their games.
“This season, we are ready, we want to win the Champions League, we just have to prepare well,” Sakala said.
Midfielder Richard Kasonde said the Champions League will not disturb their MTN-FAZ league title defence.