By GWEN CHIPASULA –

MIDFIELDER Lubambo Musonda has been ruled out of Saturday’s must-win Senegal 2015 CAF African Under-23 Championship final round return leg qualifier against Ivory Coast.
Team manager Hastings Ndovi said Lubambo, who last week signed a two-year deal with Gandzasar Kapana FC of Armenia, will miss the clash owing to club commitments.
“We shall miss the services of Lubambo Musonda who has been excused to concentrate on club commitments having just joined a new club and also that his club will have a game on the same day that we will be playing Ivory Coast, so he will not be with us,” he said.
Ndovi said there was no need of bringing in a replacement for Lubambo because the team already has other capable players who can deliver the needed result to clinch qualification.
He said striker Ronald ‘Sate Sate’ Kampamba of Egyptian club Wadi Degla was already in the country and will join camp today, while Mamelodi Sundown’s midfielder Mukuka Mulenga was expected to arrive in the country last evening.
Ndovi said Israel based defender Emmanuel Mbola is expected to arrive in the country today.
He said 22 out of 26 players summoned to camp had by yesterday morning reported and expressed happiness that the players looked sharp after playing for their respective clubs at the weekend.
The winners over two legs will qualify for the final tournament of the African Under-23 Championship scheduled for November 28 to December 12 in Senegal, where the top three teams will represent Africa at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Africa’s fourth-placed team will face an Asian side in a playoff for a slot at the Rio Games.
Meanwhile, Zambia Sports Fans Association (ZASOFA) chairperson, Peter Makembo has urged fans to come out in numbers and support the team to qualify for the continental championship.
The Zambia women team advanced to the second round of the Papua New Guinea 2016 FIFA Under-20 Women World Cup qualifiers on a 4-0 aggregate.