By ADRIAN MWANZA –
THE Zambia Under-17 futsal team will today look to overturn a three-goal deficit and qualify to the next stage of the 2018 Youth Olympics games when they clash in Angola at the Olympic Youth Development Centre(OYDC) in Lusaka.
The match will be played behind closed doors.
In the first leg, a haphazardly made Zambia was beaten 6-3 a fortnight ago in Angola despite leaving 3-0 in that game.
The technical bench attributed that to a combination of fatigue as the team played just barely six hours after landing in Angola and lack of concentration.
Zambia coach Brian Kunsanama has remained optimistic his charges will reverse the first leg defeat and even qualify to the next stage.
“We are going to do our best to ensure that we win today and stay in the hunt for a place at the Youth Olympics games in Argentina,” he said.
The Argentine games are set to run from October 6 to 18 with Africa given just one spot from the 10 that will be taking part.
Kunsanama said the technical bench had sealed all the loopholes that were exposed in the agonising defeat away in Angola.
He urged the players to give their all so they get a comfortable win that will see them through to the next round.
“The team is looking good and we are ready to go. It will be a tactical game, we expect Angola to play defensively because they are leading us. But we shall use what we have to get the desired results,” he said.
Meanwhile his Angolan counterpart Rui Sampaio said their mission to Zambia was simple and that is to finish off the job as they have Youth Olympics ambitions.
“We know Zambia will be attacking but we have done our homework. The team is solid and ready for the challenge,” he said.