By MOSES CHIMFWEMBE  –
‘CHICKEN’ George Lwandamina has hailed budding star Conlyde Luchanga’s impact during Zambia’s 3-0 win over the Mambas of Mozambique during Saturday’s Rwanda 2016 African Nations Championship (CHAN) qualifiers final round, first leg match.

. Luchanga

The Lusaka Dynamos striker was handed his first call-up for the Chipolopolo after replacing Festus Mbewe in the 73rd minute and made instant impact, scoring his debut goal seven minutes later, off a Charles Zulu pin point cross to double Zambia’s lead.
Lwandamina said during a post-match conference that Luchanga was ready for the national team assignments.
“We are in a nurturing process, so we cannot put him in a thick of things. When the game became lighter, it was good for him to come in and he showed that he is a long the way,” Lwandamina said.
Lwandamina said the technical bench has a big pool of players from the local league and that any deserving player would be given an opportunity to feature for the national team.
“He (Luchanga) might not be in the starting line-up and you saw the nature of the game, if we had started him, maybe he was going to fail and that was going to be his end. As a coach, we take time to nurture players.
“It’s not an easy thing to identify talent and there is a process that must be adhered to, that’s what we are trying to do as coaches and I am sure one day you will be able to appreciate these players,” he said.
Meanwhile, Lwandamina said he would not concentrate much on the commanding lead that Zambia will take going into the return leg in Maputo this weekend.
He said the Chipolopolo will put up a spirited fight to complete a double and qualify for the Rwanda CHAN finals set for next year.
The coach said he would not hesitate to fuse in new players into the squad as the team begins to prepare for the return leg.
“We still have second half to play… so I cannot say that we are hundred per cent there because we still have work to do ahead of the return leg in Maputo.
“Any player who’s worthwhile can be called to the team for the second leg. This being a tournament of local players, we have a very big pool of players to pick from and the door is still open to inclusions,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Chipolopolo shifted camp to Lusaka ahead of the return leg.