The Zambia national team has been boosted with the arrival of 6 foreign-based players ahead of Saturday 2008 Africa Cup, Group 11 qualifier against Congo-Brazzaville at Konkola stadium in Chililabombwe.
Striker Jacob Mulenga of French Ligue 2 club Chateauroux, James Chamanga of SuperSport United in South Africa and Angolan based midfielder Felix Katongo have all gathered on the Copperbelt.
Defender Elijah Tana of Al Jazeera in the UAE has also arrived and all the players were by press time expected to join up with the team in Ndola en route to Chililabombwe this evening.
Still being awaited is Collins Mbesuma of Maritimo in Portugal is due to land in Ndola this evening from Europe.
Christopher Katongo of Danish club Brondby is expected tomorrow, Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Zambia returned home from Namibia Monday night where they beat their hosts 2-1 on Saturday in an international friendly.
“Our match against Congo is a do-or-die game that we must win or we are out,” Phiri said just after landing at Lusaka International Airport.
“We had a very good game (Against Namibia) and we have two to three days to fine-tune our team before our game against Congo.”
Phiri meanwhile cautioned against putting too much pressure on Zesco United striker Enoch Sakala who scored a brace on his debut for Zambia this weekend in the match against Namibia.
“We must not put too much pressure on him and must be very patient with him and give him enough outings that he can handle,” Phiri cautioned.
Sakala has scored 7 goals in the league apart from 13 games with Zesco apart from the two he recorded against Namibia bringing his total tally of the season to 9.
And in the Zambia Under 23 camp, winger Clifford Mulenga and defender Davies Nkausu of South African 2nd division club Pretoria University have joined the team in Kitwe.
The duo complete the quartet Peter Kaumba called-up for the team’s Olympic Games football tournament Group B qualifier against Cote d’Ivoire on June 3 at Nchanga stadium in Chingola
I can only wish both national teams (Senior and U-23) all the best this weekend.The senior team should be able to roll over the Rouge Diables of Congo. As for the U-23, good luck. The U-20 are flying high and I hope they can carry on even when they graduate to the senior teams (All the best in Canada next month). The trend in Zambian soccer is that when these boys are at U-20, they play very well. Immediately they graduate into the senior team, they are finished. You wonder why. Needless to say, good luck to all the three national teams.