Zambia will be without striker Jacob Mulenga of French Ligue 1 club Racing Strasbourg for their opening 2010 World/Africa Cup Group 11 qualifier against Togo away on May 31 in Accra, Ghana.
Mulenga has been ruled out due to injury after suffering a fractured skull last week in France.
Faz revealed today that Mulenga is expected to be fit for Zambia’s first home World/Africa Cup qualifier against Swaziland on June 20 at Konkola Stadium in Chililabombwe.
The player is expected to start playing within a month in a face-mask.
And the development means Mulenga will also miss this Sunday’s friendly away to Iran in Teheran due to the same injury.
Also expected to miss the match against Iran is Zambia captain Christopher Katongo from Brondby in Denmark.
Katongo also been ruled due to a club commitment just 24 hours earlier with Brondby.
However, Katongo will play in Zambia’s World Cup qualifying opener against Togo in Accra, Ghana on May 31.
With Mulenga and Katongo both out of the Iran friendly, Faz will now only fly into Teheran 5 more players who will miss this Thursday, May 22 friendly away to Libya in Tripoli.
The game has been rescheduled from Wednesday to Thursday to give Zambia enough time to recover from their long flight from Zambia to Libya with kickoff scheduled for 14:00 Zambian time.
Midfielders Isaac Chansa of Helsingborg in Sweden, Felix Katongo from Stade Rennes in France and James Chamanga of Chinese club Dalian Haichang are all expected play for the first time under new coach Herve Renard this weekend.
Others are left-winger Clifford Mulenga from South African side Bidvest Wits and prolific Zanaco striker Roger Kola.
Kola is expected to join up with the squad by Friday in Teheran after a visa hitch ruled him out of the Libya game after Renard handed the striker a late senior recall.
The Zanaco striker was due to feature for the Zambia Under-20 team who are in camp in preparing for their participation in a 3-nation Under-21 tournament away in Saudi Arabia this weekend.
And Zambia will depart Tripoli after their friendly for Iran ahead of their second friendly game this weekend.
The team will leave Teheran on May 27 and head to Accra ahead of the Group 11 opener against Togo.
Faz will now only fly into Teheran 5 more players who will miss this Thursday, May 22 friendly away to Libya in Tripoli.
LT whats the meaning???
Sili futbol talk.
”With Mulenga and Katongo both out of the Iran friendly, Faz will now only fly into Teheran 5 more players who will miss this Thursday, May 22 friendly away to Libya in Tripoli”.
The English is pathetic at both Lt and Zambianfootball, please improve.
i would hoped that players like felix sunzu ,edwin phiri,fwayo tembo to mention but a few were also given chances,edwin plays first team football in sewdish top flight just like nchimunya meetwa in finiland but this is a new era of zambian soccer.i would love faz to give the new coach the names of all zambia pro players so that he could monitor them,regardless of where they are playing
GOOD LUCK TO MAN. UTD.
which time is the match kicking off? what day? 21st or 22nd?
This is not an unEnglish blog,#4 can u go & lecture @ ‘Mposamabwe’ University along Great East Rd.
No4 spot on the English leaves much to be desired for quality websites like these. Its not only Zambia who view them. Sometimes its hard to understand what the writer means as in the example above. Definitely need a proof reader. Nothing wrong with making improvements. Its sad certain folks do not seem to get the message.
The syntax is perfect, if the two hadn’t been ruled out, FAZ would have been flying in seven players!!!
Ladies and Gentlemen, You can get the best coach in world to Coach for our team and yield no good results.
I am a professional Coach in the USA and I know what it takes to build a great atheletes. Its almost impossible to have a great team of 11. There maybe few on the team that are committed.
I have been coaching for a number of years and no matter what great of a coach you are, you only responsible for small percentage in the success of a player. Most of it comes from the players. I wonder when I hear all these call about getting a coach and so forth.
We have been in this business for a while to know what it takes to build players or formidable teams. “die a liltle” D liwew
No offence to Coach Renard!!