Peter Kaumba trims his Under 23 All Africa Games and Olympics squad to 19 tomorrow evening after playing Power Dynamos at Garden Park here in Kitwe in their final training game before switching camp to Lusaka on Thursday.
It hasn’t been plain sailing in the attacking department for the Under 23’s with recent call-up Brian Chilando showing little spark while Felix Nsunzu had two sniffs at goal in their 1-1 draw away to Nchanga rangers on Saturday in Chingola.
Today, assistant coach Dean Mwiinde admitted they had a striker problem but steered clear of using the word crisis.
“It’s an open book and you can’t close the door on that one,” Mwiinde said.
“Meanwhile, we are working on that. We have done a lot of shooting in training and expect the ratio of scoring to improve.”
Zambia national team head coach Patrick Phiri who is with the team in an advisory capacity said he was confident the strikers they had would deliver.
“Match day temperament is very different from what you see in a training game and am positive you will see a great difference when they play Malawi,” Phiri said.
Zambia Under 23 host Malawi on February 7 in Lusaka in an Olympic Games football tournament qualifier 1st round, 1st leg match.
Meanwhile, Nsunzu is a doubt for Wednesday training game due to slight knock and has been working out on his own since Monday.
Mwiinde said the bench will not risk playing the Konkola Blades striker and would let him rest before reviewing his injury status on Friday.
Nsunzu scored two goals in the Under 23’s Olympic qualifier preliminary round single leg 10-0 win over Djibouti played in Lusaka last October.
courtesy of Kalumiana Kalumiana
