. Mumamba

By NDINAWE SIMPELWE –
ZANACO coach Mumamba Numba says  the team will do better in next year’s CAF Champions League after learning tough lessons this year.
And Numba says he is happy that he silenced his critics after Zanaco dominated the 2017 MTN-FAZ Awards in Kitwe on Friday night.
In an interview, Numba said it was a bitter pill to swallow when Zanacowas ejected from the Champions League because of goal difference.
He said the biggest lesson the team learnt was that it was supposed toutilise the home matches.
“I think the secret of progressing especially to the semi-final is winning the home games. I know that is where we lost it. If we had won all our home games we would have qualified to go the semi-finals. Thatis the biggest lesson we learnt in the tournament we represented mother Zambia,” Numba said.
He said the team was reorganising and was looking better  than the 2017s ide with an addition of a few players adding that he was lookingforward to seeing Zanaco  perform better next year with a better side.
“We have  reorganised ourselves and the team looks better than it istoday. I think next year we will have a better side than the one wehad in 2017. You will see new players when we start our training. Bythe end of the month we will issue a statement on who we have signed,”Numba said.
Meanwhile Numba said the dominance by Zanaco during the 2017 MTN/FAZAwards was a clear indication of the hard work the technical benchputs in at the club.
He said the critics had been proved wrong after Zanaco was condemnedfor selling the bulk of the 2016 title winning players to other teams.
“I think it is a blessing for us as Zanaco especially that wedominated the awards, this shows that we are always working as a team.
It also shows that the technical bench and the executive worked handin hand to for us to even finish second this year. It wasn’t easy butbecause of the hard work that everyone put in that is why we havedominated the awards today,” Numba said.
Zanaco dominated the nominations for the 2017 MTN/FAZ Awards as wellthe FAZ best 11 for 2017.12.16 Numba, Toaster Nsabata, Ziyo Tembo andAugustine Mulenga were all lined up for awards.
Mulenga was crowned player of the year while Ziyo grabbed the mostdisciplined player of the year.
On the best 11, four Zanaco players made the list same as leaguechampions Zesco United.
MTN-FAZ best 11 for 2017.
Zanaco goalie Toasters Nsabata made it in with the defenders Adrian Chama (Green Buffaloes), Fackson Kapumbu (Zesco), David Odhiambo (Zesco), Tembo (Zanaco).
The midfield are Mulenga, Ernest Mbewe (both Zanaco) and Kondwani Mtonga (Zesco) while the strikers are Chris Mugalu (Lusaka Dynamos), Walter Bwalya (Nkana) and JesseWere(Zesco).