By FELIX MALUNGA –

THE Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) says it will work with clubs to find a remedy to the national teams’ poor performance in international competitions.
FAZ president Kalusha Bwalya, who attributed the national teams’ poor performance in various African competitions this year to lack of goal-getters, said Football House was now urgently working on remedial measures with clubs.
He said this in the wake of the Under-23 squad’s failure to qualify to the 2015 All Africa Games (AAG) on Sunday, a result that completed a dismal performances of Zambian teams on the international stage this year starting with the Chipolopolo to all male age-group teams and the women teams.
Kalusha said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that the players needed to be more confident when they were on the offensive and make every scoring opportunity count.
He said that all national teams have had chances to win matches but the ultimate ill had been failure to score goals.
Kalusha said Zambian teams had been dominating several international games but their undoing has been failure to turn those advantages into goals.
“If you analyse the whole year, we have had chances to win matches but we can’t put the ball behind the net. We are creating the chances but we just lack a good pass, good lay, good header, good finish and a strong foot behind the ball.
Our ultimate ill now is failing to put the ball in the back of the net. Whether it’s to pass the ball or score we need to be more confident. Failing to score is eluding us at the moment. When you are in control of a match, the scoreboard should also show that you are in control,” he said.
Kalusha said FAZ would now put more efforts in liaison with clubs to address the problem but conceded that it was not an easy task to perfect the art of scoring.
“To score goals if you sit in front of a television you able be able to see how good goal scorers like Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Wayne Rooney and Radamel Falcao and others put balls behind the net in one mind.
When they go on the pitch, they know that if I get one chance I need to put it away. It is an art we have to develop over the years because it does not come easy,” the 1988 African Footballer of the Year said.
Kalusha said the Under-23 team still needed rebuilding before it embarks on the Rio 2016 Olympic Games qualifiers later this year and appealed to the nation to be patient.
He said it was unfortunate that the Under-23 squad could not make it to the AAG in Congo Brazzaville because doing so could have played a crucial role in the development of the team.
As the team now goes for the Olympic Games qualifiers, Kalusha said Zambia had not featured at quadrennial multi-sport festival since 1988 and that it was now a big challenge to the Under-23 team to earn a place at the Brazil Games next year.
He said it was FAZ’s hope that the Under-23 players would continue working hard at their respective clubs and return to national duty more accomplished.
On the senior women’s team failure to also reach the 2015 AAG, Kalusha said it was good that Albert Kachinga’s lasses managed to recover and win away in Tanzania after losing at home.