Former Zambia defender Mordon Malitoli has warned that not all members of the 2017 Under-20 Africa Cup winning squad are ripe to play for Chipolopolo.
Malitoli, a Nkana legend, emphasised that not all youngsters can play for the Senior National Team right away.
“It will be a joke to replace the entire national team with under 20 boys,” Malitoli said in Kitwe.
“Some of the youngsters can be introduced in the senior team. Not all can play in the senior team but some,” he said.
The elusive 1994 Africa Cup silver-medallist could not single out players he thinks can play for Zambia.
Malitoli also saluted the youngsters for winning the Africa Cup.
“The boys did well. I think they have given us a big base where we can pick national team players.”
Zambia were on Sunday crowned Under-20 Africa Cup champions after beating Senegal 2-0 in the final at Heroes Stadium in Lusaka.
Coach Beston Chambeshi’s boys won the Africa Cup with a perfect record.
Zambia overcame South Africa 1-0 in the semifinals after beating Guinea 1-0, Mali 6-1 and Egypt 3-1 in the group stages.
They have jelled as a complete winning team, hence they ALL must be drafted into the Zambian National Soccer Team as seniors. All we must do is to write FIFA informing it of our logical decision that our Un der 20 have now become our Senior National Team without any delays. BUT we must also state that they are also our Under 20 Team to be taken to South Korea to go and capture the Under 20 World Cup for Zambia. Meanwhile, all efforts must be made to refine our Under 17 to replace our Under 20 Players as soon as possible. As for our current Senior National Team, they must be given national medals for serving Zambia when they did, just like all our ZP were awarded medals (regardless of unending crimes in our country), so that they can become like all of us, Cheerleaders!
Mr. Malitoli must…
You couldn’t have put it better. We indeed need to retire the entire senior national team and replace it with the winning team. Malitoli must shut up. We can’t start mixing the Under 20 team with the current senior national team. The seniors will start bewitching the young ones who probably don’t involve themselves in football rituals. The Under 20 team is made up of a young generation that doesn’t believe in winning using witchcraft.
Why the U20 excelled: Technical bench was professional in the selection process. Contrast them with their predecessors who were dogged by nepotism to see my point. The yesteryear bench suffocated under allegations of nicheleko at the selection stage. If they keep this good spirit more trophies will land here.
Kenneth “Bubble” Malitoli, who has played the game of soccer @ the very highest level, both for club & country, has a valid point, that “experience” can only be earned on the field of play.
Good as these lads may be, they still need to be blended with more mature players as well in order for the sharing of experience, even in life, allowing youths to bring themselves up nearly always ends up in disaster, no matter how “smart or educated” they may be.
Ba Bubble, I hear you…
this is the elder brother to bubble…you are lost
Actually they shud b drafted in the u23 and not the Senior team. They shud not jump any stage of growth. Luchanga failed to feature for u20 despite having played at Senior level. That’s the consequence of jumping stages and Mbola is finished at 23…PATHETIC!
I would rather nurture the U20 as an entity, even if it means they struggle for a couple of years to earn the experience. Together they are likely to maintain the peer-peer verve or spirit : iwe boyi, pasta kuno! sort of thing (the kind of playground openness that would die out once drafted into seniors). And they have what the senior team struggled to have: Goals, they score goals, come what may. Conclusion: Draft the senior guys into the juniors, and not the other way round.
Ndelolesha fye
Did anyone suggest that all the under 20 boys will be migrated to the national team? where is this advice coming from?
Imagine that’s what 2017 soccer fans are suggesting. Make them go through under 23 before they are considered for the senior team.
The advice is coming from real life observations. Our Senior National Team is incompetent and next to unproductive…they have a poor track record to support me. The Under 23 guys are real men whose motivation is firstly intrinsic and they are a focused bunch. We must learn to give credit where it is due. They must be promoted because their real life actions have spoken for all the millions of Zambians to see who the real men in soccer are in Zambia. We must adopt a no-nonsense mindset where incompetence must be shoved aside at all levels of national life if we are to become a better country. We cannot become a better country if we are chained to incompetence and ineptitude! These evils have lead us to where we are…massive unemployment with our leaders honestly begging foreigners to…
Middle man B. Musonda is not good he may cost as a game at will world cup. Coach look at this player before its too late
Malitoli is spot on correct! What might be a better alternative is to draft the under 20 into the SENIOR RESERVE TEAM! Give the guys time to feel what it is to play with the seniors!
The same applies with these tuma small junior/ baby bloggers/ commentators! How does a ka junior blogger try and debate issues with a senior blogger? A typical example is this baby blogger thing called Nez! Bana bandi ichindikeni!!!!!
@ jeke, the author of the article is Moldon Malitoli; former Nkana and Zambia defensive midfielder. He is the elder brother to Kenneth “Bubble” Malitoli former Nkana prolific striker. Moldon’s point is valid, the U20 need technical, social, psychological mentorship and experience at senior level to become effective senior players.
@Jeke #3, You are wrong! Please read the article! The person who the article is attributing to for the comments is MORDON Malitoli and NOT Kenneth Malitoli! Kenneth Malitoli is “Bubble!” While I respect Mordon’s view and both are players who I supported for years, I beg to differ with Ba Mordon! I would love to see the team go as a whole to become ZAMBIA A! That way the team will have no problems of blending. This is a winning team already!
Mwebantu shuwa….level football at u U20 is not as intense as at Senior level so stop dreaming by thinking the whole under 20 members be drafted.
Well people let us not kill each other over suggestions. Its either you take it or you have a different view. Zambia is one country I have seen eluded of victories for a long time. So when one comes we become so excited that we start substituting game. At the moment let us help the coach by telling him what we saw in each player so that he works on it for another victory in Korea. The issue of replacing those Senior team players who have failed us wi? come. Let them finish their poorly performed World cup qualifying games without turnishing the names of the young ones. If we show hatred on them, they will bewitch these juniors. The young ones has another battle to qualify to Olympics which is at under 23 level, then will be happy that they have matured.
Here is how we will settle this. Organise a friendly but competitive match between the under 50 football team and the the under 20 and whoever wins starts representing Zambia at senior, under 23 and under 20 levels.
we don’t have a senior team guys! what we currently have is a bunch of rejects and finished names. We are talking of our National team must must at all times or at least 80% of the time make us feel like what the mighty U20 have done. From now on, we must use only 2% of bakulu and the rest from the U20 like Cameroon did. Apa peve tikosepo mwe. Bakulu bangatipaise na BP!
we should prepare some matches between U20 and the senior team. Lets see who play better and who will score more goals. From there we will make a decision- whether to blend them or oust the nation team and replace them with the young lads or give the young lads enough time to grow and mature as a team