By GWEN CHPASULA  –
WITH just eight days before playing Nigeria in the 2015 All-Africa Games qualifier, the Zambia under-23 soccer squad has shockingly broken camp until next week.
Coach Fighton Simukonda said yesterday after a morning training session at Heroes National Stadium in Lusaka that he was letting his players return to their clubs but that he expected them back after this weekend’s season-opening MTN-FAZ Premier Division League games.

. Simukonda

Simukonda said the team should be regrouping on Sunday, just three days before departure for Nigeria for the match set for March 21.
The players were yesterday in high spirits and danced off at the end of the training session as they bade farewell for the weekend.
Simukonda did not give further details on the matter but FAZ has recently been stretched financially especially regarding camping of the various national teams involved in various competitions.
The senior womens’ team who next Saturday also play an international game against Tanzania at home have delayed to start camping.
On injuries in the team, Simukonda said two players including exciting leftie Bruce Musakanya picked up some minor knocks but were expected to be fit for the game against Nigeria.
Apart from Musakanya, Nsama Mukuka is also nursing an injury but is also expected to recover in time.
Simukonda is however confident that his players are on the right track and advised them to stay focused, saying playing Nigeria was not easy.
The under-23 on Wednesday played a friendly against Perry Mutapa’s Lusaka Dynamos at the Heroes Stadium which ended in a 1-1 draw.
Simukonda said the players were so far responding well to training and that a friendly against Dynamos was one way of preparing the team and rectifying any mistakes detected.
On Nigeria under-23 coach Samson Siasia’s sentiments that the west Africans’ defence was weak even after beating Gabon 4-1, Simukonda said his team would not fall for such tricks.
“It is their problem and not ours, all we have to do is prepare for them and not fall for such tricks because there is a lot involved in football,” he said.
Siasia said he was not impressed with his defence performance, admitting that he has a lot to do in that area before playing Zambia.
And Zambia has remained static on the FIFA/Coca-Cola world rankings released in Zurich, Switzerland yesterday.
The Chipolopolo are still rated 60th in the world and 17th in Africa in the March rankings where there has been less movements on the chart because of lack of action.
Only seven friendlies were played since the last edition of the monthly rankings, five of them in the Caribbean zone and North and Central America.
World champions Germany maintained their comfortable lead over Argentina and Colombia. The first move on the global ladder concerns Italy, who have climbed two positions at the expense of Spain (11th, down 1) to enter the top 10 for the first time since June 2014.