The Zambia U20 national team will tomorrow leave for Spain where they will play friendly games with youth side of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Athletico Madrid.
Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) president Andrew Kamanga confirmed that the squad will extend its current camp to Europe to prepare adequately for the U20 Africa Cup of Nations that will be played in Zambia.
The Beston Chambeshi coached side is also expected to play another international friendly with South Africa on February 8th.
The squad which has now been trimmed to 22 has been training at Sunset stadium but will today move to Heroes Stadium where they will play all their group games in the competition 26th February to 12th March.
Zambia play Guinea in the opening match of the tournament which scheduled to start at 15h00 at the National Heroes Stadium.
The second match of the tournament between Egypt and Mali will also be played at the same venue at 18h00 on the same day.
On 27 February, action shifts to the Copperbelt city of Ndola where Senegal will face Sudan in a Group B opener at 15h00 followed by the match between South Africa and Cameroon at 18h00.
The two teams that will top each group get an automatic qualification to the FIFA U20 World Cup that will be played in South Korea later this year.
List of players travelling to Spain
Goalkeepers: Mangani Banda, James Phiri, Samson Banda
Defenders: Shemmy Mayembe, Prosper Chilufya, Edward Tembo, Moses Nyondo, Solomon Sakala, Benson Chali, Sydney Phiri
Midfielders: Boyd Musonda, Enock Mwepu, Harrison Musonda, Linos Makwaza, Chrispin Sakulnda, Kenneth Kalunga, Musonda Siame
Strikers: Patson Daka, Fashion Sakala, Joseph Phiri, Edward Chilufya, Happy Nsofwa
nice move hope they even buy some well deserved young players
There are some very good players in the team…hopefully many will be noticed and tracked during the WC to finally get scoped! Am sure one Kalu isn’t happy about this lol
Goalkeeper James Phiri, midfielder Linos Makwaza…gives a feeling of Deja Vu!!!!!
Excellent preparation. Unfortunately article does not indicate how long they will be in Europe?
This is a very intersting news & i hope 2/3 will sign at a better club in spain watch-out zambia is coming with hihgly spanish spirit. its like kamanga has started wat he use to promise during his campaigns bcoz this is a vry advance preparation for the U20 national team & thanx faz for this one. Lets hope charly musonda will be watching all the matches maybe he can get attracted & the exposure of his fellows, kamanga is taking zambia at another level watch-out africans there we go its chipolopolo evrywere.another intake to reckon, we had the likes of chintu kampamba,Gift kampamba,Andrew Sinkala(former Bayern player) & others they did their best. Another intake was the likes of fwayo,sunzu,nyambe & the like, as at now we want to start naming the likes of enock mwepu,chrispin sakulanda, fashion sakala, patson daka,moses nyondo,mangani banda,boyd musonda,Linos makwaza,benson chali,prosper chilufya,edward tembo & so on but only GOD knows bcoz u cannot showcase ur skills minus GOD’S favour.Guru & the rest I want to hear ur views pliz come up on this one.
Good exposure!!
am very happy for this preparation this is an excellent. go Zambia go!
kamanga doing what he does best, all the best lads
Very positive news
This sounds like a good move, but we need to take into consideration the weather in Spain during the time frame and the elevation.
Playing quality opposition needs to be weighed against climatization of the team for the tournament conditions. Definitely look forward to hopefully seeing this team at the world youth championship.
FAZ needs to keep up the good work.
I agree with you @ +ve thinking.
Good job by Faz and surely this must be the genesis of proper organization for our national teams.
Hope plans are underway for the next Afcon qualifiers. Caf have done their part, the groups are ready. We know who our opponent’s are so let’s plan for them. surely these teams;
1. The brave warriors of Namibia;
2. The Mambas of Mozambique; and
3. Guinea (whatever they call themselves).
should be a walk over with good planning.
Good move FAZ???
positive thinking, this is not sound like but an excellent move for the exposure of the young lads & marketing them in europe to be specific in spain. thanks big bro.
Gud move kamanga
Bravo FAZ, we certainly going in the right direction and am sure the boys will come out good and deliver.
we don’t want to hear ati “travel arrangements failed!” coz this will just be rhetoric. Otherwise, we need friendlies with 2 African nations atlist… Not Barca, coz we will beat them. We are a National team. We will give false hope.
Hmmm…do you really think England can beat Barcelona?! These Spanish youth teams are tough and we shall learn from them!!
These are the things that I wanted to hear not the baseless and useless issues he was talking about.he should do that even to the national team.As for me I give credit were its duel and I criticse were its necessary unlikely some fools who are supporting blindly good move ba FAZ
Guru,
Considering the fact that it is painful to watch Afcon without Zambia & Nigeria lol we should prepare for Namibia, Mozambique & Guinea! We need a 100% record against these teams. No loss. the worst result must be a draw!
If they play those friendlies with those teams,their competitiveness will definately be raise and the south africa international friendly will be a good assessment,though a north or west african opponent would have been better.all the same,kudos faz
no aga cheating?
Am sorry ! Is this about Kamanga? No ladies and gentlemen (assuming we have ladies here). This is about FAZ and the Ministry of sport. It is about the good of Zambian football. Akin to the victory in Gabon it had nothing to do with Kalusha. Let us not personalize issues. This is a national assignment & let’s just encourage the boys and say thanks to the good job Faz & all the stakeholders are doing in improving our game.
I wish the boys well. Our aim should be to win this trophy in an entertaining manner!
Our group is a tough one & once we top the group surely the trophy will be ours!
My prediction is the final will be a Southern African affair! (Zambia v South Africa )
There is no report whether the boys (team) travelled and arrived well.
Zamfoot we need to be kept informed about what our team is up to. We are not at Total Afcon in Gabon hence we are focusing on the under 20’s starting with their preparations.