ZAMBIA Under–17 soccer team’s performance against Uganda who they beat 2 – nil last Friday simply confirms the abundant talent the country can brag about.
Zambia always has had enough talent such that at one time managed to line up two national soccer teams as A and B, each one just as good as the other.
With such talent at hand, it is easy for the coaching bench to fall back on the ‘reserve’ in an event that regular players showed signs of exhaustion.
At a time Zambia boasted of such a reservoir, competition was high among the players and there were more than one player for one position.
It was because of that trend that when the entire national soccer team perished in that Gabon air disaster in 1993, it only took weeks to rebuild another team.
It is worth noting that the newly rebuilt team was what one would call ‘baby born with teeth’, because it was an instant force.
It is a fact that it is impossible to rebuild a team in weeks, especially that the new players were just as good as the perished one, truth, therefore, is that the reservoir was rich.
The rebuilt team consisted of players who were actively involved in the local league and as such it was easy for them to continue at a higher tempo.
Now that we have the abundance in this Under-17, there is need to nurture and manage them if they have to last for the future.
Unless we manage the abundant talent, we risk wasting them just like others varnished as soon as they emerged.
From the soccer history books, one will learn that Simataa Simataa, then as Under-17 coach once assembled a promising squad that show-cased exceptional talent.
Maybe only one or two players from that team progressed to greater heights worth talking about today, others disappeared.
A good number of players from that team, though had talent, ended up falling on the way side because of lack of proper management and nurturing.
We therefore, hope that the newly discovered lads could be monitored and maintained for future use.