By FELIX MALUNGA –
ZESCO United hitman, Jackson Mwanza and defender, Ayo Oluwafemi have been ruled out of tomorrow’s crucial CAF Champions League clash against AS Kaloum of Guinea at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola.
Mwanza, the 2014 MTN Golden Boot winner, will miss the Kaloum first leg tie after accumulating two yellow cards in the preliminary round matches against Swaziland’s Mbabane Swallows.
Zesco coach, George Lwandamina said in an interview yesterday that Mwanza had been suspended for the first match after being cautioned twice in the previous round.
On Oluwafemi, Lwandamina said the Nigerian left-back was still struggling with a knee injury he sustained in the Samuel ‘Zoom’ Ndhlovu Charity Shield final match against Power Dynamos.
“He (Mwanza) has accumulated two yellow cards so automatically he is not eligible (to play). Ayo, the left-back, is also still nursing an injury,” he said after an afternoon training session yesterday.
Lwandamina said despite missing two key players, he had enough cover to fill the void and called upon the Zambian football fraternity to turn up in numbers to cheer Zesco in the first leg of the first round.
“We will miss Ayo but am sure we will find someone fill his place. Zambians need to turn up in numbers because this is a national issue and not for Zesco alone. All those teams with large following like Nkana they should come as this is a national call,” he said.
Also still out of international duty is Kenyan  David Odhiambo, who is still awaiting his International Transfer Certificate from former club, Gor Mahia.

. Mumba

Meanwhile, Zesco secretary, Justin Mumba has said the Zambian champions are under pressure to beat their own record in the Champions League.
Zesco reached the lucrative group stage of the Champions League in 2009 and to date they are the only Zambian team to achieve that feat.
Nkana could only reach the group stage of CAF’s second tier, Confederation Cup last year.
Mumba said being the first team to reach group stage in the Champions league competition, Zesco were working hard to improve the record.
“We are under pressure to beat our own record this year and looking at the team we have assembled, I don’t think that should be a problem. With the right altitude we are able to conquer Africa,” he told the www.zescounitedfc.com.
Mumba said Zesco had one of the best sponsored teams in Zambia because of massive support the club gets from Zesco Limited.
“We can only give back to our sponsors by performing well in the Champions league and defending our title as well as cups. Winning four trophies in a space of four months is as a result of hard work and commitment from the team and the technical bench,” he said.
Mumba said he looked forward to a day when Zesco would be among the top 10 performing clubs in Africa.
“We are glad that we are among the top 32 elite clubs in terms of management but it will be better if we are among the top 10 in terms of performance. We can do it if we work hard,” he said.