Coach Ian Bakala has hailed his Zambia Under-17 Men’s National Team for qualifying to the Africa Cup of Nations Algeria 2023.
Zambia and South Africa have qualified for the Junior AFCON after winning their respective COSAFA Championship semifinals on Friday night.
The Junior Chipolopolo beat Botswana 4-2 and will now face South Africa in the final on Sunday.
In a post-match comment, Bakala said the AFCON qualification is a dream come true for the Under-17 Team.
“I think AFCON qualification was our objective and if you have seen how these players are playing, they have come a long way together,” he said.
“The plan was for us to book a place to the Africa Cup which we have done.”
Bakala is looking forward to the COSAFA Cup final.
“Now I think we just have to focus on the cup final. We can’t talk much about the AFCON it is too far we have to concentrate on the cup final,” he said.
Zambia had earlier beaten South Africa 1-0 in the group stage of the COSAFA Championship.
