By SANDRA MWILA –

• CHRISTOPHER Katongo (in red bip) beats goalkeeper Toaster Nsabata as Benson Sakala looks on during the national team’s training session at Miller grounds in Lusaka yesterday. Picture by GWEN CHIPASULA

CHIPOLOPOLO coach ‘Chicken’ George Lwandamina has warned that no player is assured of an automatic place in the team ahead of the African Nations Championship (CHAN) slated for January 16 to February 7 in Rwanda.
Lwandamina said in an interview yesterday after the morning training session at Miller grounds in Lilayi that selection of players into the final squad will be performance-oriented and not based on names.
He said that even players like Christopher Katongo and Isaac Chansa will not be guaranteed slots in the final team and that every player will have to prove themselves to get a place in the  final team.
“Only players who deserve to be in the final team will make it. For me, selection is performance-oriented and the same applies to my job if I don’t perform I will also risk my job,” Lwandamina said.
He said the onus will be on every player in the provisional team to work hard and prove their abilities going into the CHAN tournament.
“The best way to deal with such a situation (selection) is for players to work hard and fight for positions.
If players come with the mentality of being ABC that will be wrong, I don’t play names but input in training is what counts,” he said.
He added that Katongo and Chansa were doing well and their interaction with the younger players in the team was yielding positive results.
Lwandamina said the team was preparing well for the tournament and that the technical bench was working on the fitness levels of the players.
Meanwhile, Lwandamina said the team is training at Miller grounds because all stadia in Lusaka are under-going maintenance.
“Here I know the pitch is not very conducive, we are in the first phase of preparations and we need a grass pitch but all pitches in Lusaka are undergoing maintenance,” Lwandamina said.
Lwandamina also said he was ready to work with newly appointed assistant Coach Irfan Kawri.
He said the goal of every member of the technical bench goal is to see to it that the team performs well at tournaments.
“We will work with him (Kawri), we like working with people .Every member on the technical bench  has the same goal of seeing the team perform well,” Lwandamina said.