Zambia Under-20 Men’s National Team’s quest to qualify to the semi-finals of the 2020 COSAFA Men’s Championship will be under scrutiny tomorrow when they face Malawi in a Crucial final Group B match at Wolfson Stadium in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
Young Chipolopolo Coach Perry Mutapa knows exactly what is at stake in tomorrow’s game and he has predicted a tough game against the Young Flames who have all to fight for as they are looking for maximum points to advance to the semi-finals having picked up 3 points edging Comoros 1-nil before losing to Namibia 2-1 yesterday.
Speaking in an interview from Port Elizabeth, Mutapa said despite it likely to be a tricky match against Malawi, his lads are taking this game more seriously than the first two matches they have played against Namibia and Comoros in which they triumphed 1-0 and 2-0 respectively.
“It is always a tricky encounter playing against Malawi at any level. It has always been difficult because this tie doesn’t produce a lot of goals,” Mutapa said.
“Our target going into tomorrow’s game is an outright win so we are taking it very seriously because this match is different from the ones we have played so far, it will determine how far we will go in this tournament.”
The Young Chipolopolo have injury concerns in the team with the likes of Patrick Gondwe, Chipyoka Songa, and Ricky Banda being a doubt for tomorrow’s game as they are still racing against recovering from injuries.
However, Mutapa won’t take the risk to feature them if his lads won’t be fit for the game and he has tasked other players to rise to the occasion.
“I have got enough experience about injuries, you do not have to rush players to come and play because, in the long run, you may miss them for a long time, so those 3 are doubts for tomorrow’s game but we just have to go with what we have so it’s a chance for the other guys to showcase what they have,” Mutapa said.
Tomorrow’s game will be a repeat of last year’s game at the same tournament in which Zambia won 2-1 so Malawi will be hoping to revenge that defeat especially because a win will send them through to the semi-finals of the tournament at the expense of the defending champions while on the other hand, a draw will be enough for Zambia to go through to the semi-finals.
This match will kick-off at 15h30 at the Wolfson Stadium and will be played simultaneously with Namibia who also has a chance of progressing to the semi-finals playing against winless Comoros Island at Gelvandale Stadium.
