We will always do our best not to disappoint the fans – Patson

Zambia U23 national team striker Patson Daka says the ‘Bola na Lesa’ Boys will always do their best to put a smile on the faces of the fans because they deserve it.

Zambia played in front of a full to capacity Heroes Stadium on Wednesday last week beating Congo Brazzaville 2-1 before going to force a 3-3 draw away in Brazzaville and Daka is thankful for the support the fans have rendered to the team.

“We will always do our best not to disappoint them, we know that it is a game which can go either way but we will always do our best to make sure that we can put smiles on their faces because they deserve it,” he said.

“I give credit to the fans, they are always behind us, no matter what happens they believe in us, even when we are down they push us, and they always give us a reason to push hard.”

“Even when we are playing away from home, we always know that there are people who are supporting us, they may not be there with us but in spirit, they are there with us,” he added.

The team becomes the second team to qualify to the tournament which will be used to pick the teams to play at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (top three) but the 2017 CAF young player of the year says the team will take it to step by step as they are now focused on the AFCON tournament.

“Now we are looking forward to the Africa Cup, we know that we have to take every step, we cannot be thinking about Tokyo right now, we have another hurdle which we have to jump,” he said.

“Right now our focus is on AFCON and we have to make sure that the target will be to qualify to the Tokyo Olympics then we can say the target is to get the trophy,” he added.

Enock ‘Computer’ Mwepu scored a brace while Daka chipped in with a goal to help the Young Copper Bullets force a draw in Brazzaville and win 5-4 on aggregate to qualify to the 2019 U23 AFCON which will be hosted by Egypt in November.