By SANDRA MWILA –

ZAMBIA Under-17 soccer team coach Chris Kaunda has said his team needs to play a series of friendly games to prepare adequately for the Niger 2015 Africa Junior Championship slated for next month.
Kaunda said in an interview after yesterday’s training session that his team still needs to be exposed to international friendly matches to help remove the fear among some players.
He said playing more friendly games will equally enable his coaching bench assess the players and come up with a strong team ahead of the tournament.
The team has so far played one preparatory game against South Africa which ended in a 1-all draw but the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) reported that they had engaged the Malawian Football Federation with a possibility of playing some games.
“I feel the team still needs to play some friendly matches because some players are raw and need to be exposed before taking them to Niger. I could tell that some players had the stage freight when we played South Africa and that is something we need to remove,” he said.
Kaunda, however, expressed happiness with the levels of fitness and dedication to training during camp.
The players underwent medical examinations at Levy Mwanawasa Hospital on Monday as per Confederation of African Football (CAF) requirement to ascertain their correct age.
Meanwhile, goalkeeping trainer Kalililo Kakonje said the goalkeepers were 80 per cent ready for the tournament. Kakonje said goal minders still needed to work hard and to improve because the type of competition at the continental level was different from the qualifiers.
Zambia has been grouped with hosts Niger, Nigeria and Guinea at the tournament that starts on February 15 to March 1.