Nigeria’s under-23 national team, Olympic Eagles have received warning bells from one of their group rivals at the upcoming continental qualifiers for Tokyo 2020, Zambia are storming Egypt with products from their youth squad that won the African U-20 Cup of Nations two years ago.
Megasportsarena.com reports that Nigeria and Zambia are scheduled to clash in their second match of the group on Tuesday, November 12, three days after the Olympic Eagles open against Cote d’Ivoire and Junior Chipolopolo play South Africa, but their Match Day 2 game appears to be hogging headlines already, as the U23 AFCON holders will lock horns with the core of those who won the 2017 U20.
Ahead of that fixture, Zambia’s class of 2017 heroes are already setting their sight on navigating through stormy waters for a second historic football Journey to The Land of The pharaohs, as the youth continental champions two years ago on home soil also reached the quarters at the same year’s FIFA U-20 World Cup in Korea Republic, and have now graduated to Olympic team.
The Zambians will now be hoping to secure another ticket to the Far East when they take part in the competition that will decide the Africa’s three representatives at next summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.
Older and wiser, Zambia regrouped this year with the objective to end a 32-year wait for Olympic Games qualification, that was also in the Far East in South Korea in 1988 where the team inspired by the legendary Kalusha Bwalya reached the last eight.
Zambia’s route to Egypt began in March 2019 in the second round of the qualifying series after enjoying a bye at the first round., with results that ended Malawi’s unbeaten start from the first round where they had eliminated Botswana 2-1 away and drew 1-1 at home
They took on neighbours Malawi in a COSAFA Zone derby winning by 1-0 margins away on March 20 and March 24 at home courtesy of a goal in each leg by Fashion Sakala, as Chipolopolo were in an uncompressing mood at home winning 2-1 on September 4 in Lusaka, with the KV Oostende of Belgium star scoring both goals.
Zambia were later tested in the final qualifying stage by Congo, who like their opponents also enjoyed a bye at the initial round, while the Congolese eliminated Burundi 2-1 on aggregate after the latter held them 0-0 in the first leg away in Bujumbura.
The two sides went toe-to-toe in a see-saw game in Brazzaville where Zambia rallied to take a 2-1 lead before the hour mark and Congo hit back twice to take a 3-2 heading into the last ten minutes of the match.
However, Zambia sealed their qualification in dramatic style when Austrian-based midfielder Enock Mwepu equalized for the visitors in the 85th minute to see them advance 5-4 on aggregate.
Their successful run also saw Zambia maintain a solid set of results in junior competitive action both at U-20 and U-23 since their journey first began with victory in December 2016 at COSAFA U-20 Cup in South Africa.
Zambia has since lost just two competitive matches that they trace to 5 June 2017 at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in South Korea, to Costa Rica at the group stage and Italy at the quarters, which makes them a huge threat in just their second U23 AFCON outing, after making their debut at the 2015 tournament in Senegal where they finished bottom of their group after three defeats.
They kicked off preparations for the Egypt finals on 8 October in Lusaka with 28 home-based players reporting for weekly training camp under Chambeshi. The local component was later trimmed to 20 to join the likes of foreign-based stalwarts Sakala, Mwepu and Patson Daka.
The Zambians are set for a training camp in the Spanish city of Tenerife from 30 October to 6 November to fine-tune for the continental championship, where they are housed in Group B alongside holders Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire and regional rivals, South Africa; ahead of which their coach, Beston Chambeshi says his lads will continue the legascy of making their fans proud.
Chambeshi enthused: “The team played very well. I said to the Zambian people that we will give you a smile at the end of the day we have done it. Football is about making history, you cannot run away from that. As a coach and players we have to look at that, you have to look at the legacy. I am happy with the boys that they have taken me to another level but also I have built them to believe in themselves.”
