.KALABA

By SHAMAOMA MUSONDA –

CHIPOLOPOLO captain Rainford Kalaba says there is no more attraction in qualifying for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) and that the challenge of a maiden FIFA World Cup berth remains the ultimate goal.
Kalaba said Zambia had been to many AFCON editions and had won the continental title before and thus the need to put more energy on qualifying for the World Cup.
“We have been to the Africa Cup several times before and we have won it before. It is no longer as attractive as the World Cup is. So all the players have one mentality and that is to qualify to the 2018 World Cup,” he said.
Kalaba was handed the national team captaincy in the run up to the 2015 AFCON hosted by Equatorial Guinea and at the weekend led a Chipolopolo squad mainly composed of young charges in beating Rwanda at 2-0 in which he scored the opening goal.
Meanwhile, coach Honour Janza said rebuilding the national team was a slow, difficult and painstaking job, especially that a lot of untested juniors were being brought to the team.
Speaking after watching his side beat Rwanda on Sunday, Janza said rebuilding was a difficult process and there was no short cut to it.
“Rebuilding a team is not an easy job. We have a tough job ahead of us and especially that we are having to pick a lot of young players who we are bring up to play at senior level. There are two ways about this but we are getting there,” he said.
He mentioned the several young players who are getting senior national team caps and these include the under-20 group of Lubambo Musonda, Patrick Ngoma, and Spenser Sautu, who were joined by Boyd Mkandawire in the Rwanda game.