Cosafa rallies Zambia U-20s

COSAFA will be waiting with bated breath this morning when the gallant Zambians take on Italy in the quarter-final of the Fifa Under-20 World Cup finals in South Korea.

Cosafa president Philip Chiyangwa said the region had all the confidence and belief that the Zambians will not only beat pre-match favourites Italy, but have the pedigree of going all the way to lift the coveted cup.

“We are happy naturally that Zambia are in this cup. As Africans in general and Cosafa president in particular, I wish them to go all the way and I know they will do us proud. I am always in touch with my Zambian counterpart (Andrew Kamanga, the Football Association of Zambia president) discussing the goings-on in South Korea. We are all waiting with bated breath,” said Chiyangwa yesterday.

The African Under-20 champions shocked the footballing world by eliminating mighty Germany 4-3 to book a place in today’s quarter-finals.

They have had no trouble finding the back of the net, scoring 10 times from six different scorers.

Zambia have also made the most attempts on goal at the tournament, 78, well above the 50.7 team average, according to Fifa statistics.

The winner of today’s first quarter-final will square off with the victors of the other tie between England and Mexico.

The semi-finals are set for Thursday, with the winning teams playing in the final on Sunday.

Venezuela were the first to book a place in the semifinals after beating USA 4-3 after extra time yesterday.

Meanwhile, Zambian goalkeeper Mangani Banda says the team must aim at keeping a clean sheet in today’s encounter.

Speaking to The Times of Zambia, Banda said after a training session at the Suwon World Cup Stadium auxiliary pitch that the team will have to work hard to win the match, but also aim at not conceding goals.

Although Zambia have scored 10 goals, they have not kept a clean sheet in all their four games so far.

Zambia beat Portugal 2-1 in their first game, before coming from 0-2 to dismiss Iran 4-2 and then losing their final game in Group C 1-0 to Costa Rica.

Zambia beat Germany 4-3 to concede seven goals at the tournament and Banda wants that trend stopped beginning with today’s encounter with the Italians.

“I think so far so good; we are back in training and we put that tough game against Germany behind us. We just have to continue working hard, especially for us defenders. We need to make sure we keep a clean sheet starting with this match against Italy,” the Zanaco goal minder said.

He said the team will take each game as it comes before talking of reaching the final. — @skhumoyo2000