• CHIPOLOPOLO players loosening up during a training session at the Olympic Youth Development Centre in Lusaka. Picture by SANDRA MWILA

By SANDRA MWILA –

EX -Zambia Under-17 coach Wedson ‘Wada’ Nyirenda has advised the Chipolopolo to play a cautious game against Mozambique if the team is to qualify for the Rwanda 2016 Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) finals.
Zambia heads into Sunday’s CHAN final round return leg clash against the Mambas with a 3-0 lead but will need to avoid a 4-0 defeat to qualify for the finals.
Nyirenda, who coaches Mozambican side, Ferroviário da Beira, said the Chipolopolo must avoid a defensive approach by ‘packing the train’ at the edge of the penalty box but should rather attack and defend systematically.
The former Zesco United, Zanaco, Green Buffaloes and City of Lusaka coach said,  having a 3-0 lead from the first leg will greatly give Zambia an advantage heading into Sunday’s final clash to be played at the synthetic Machava Stadium.
“In such cases, I always say ‘it is so near yet so far’. This is because of the beauty of football that is so unpredictable. But I believe having a 3-0 home lead against Mozambique is an advantage,” he said.
Nyirenda said in an interview from Maputo yesterday that the Chipolopolo must try to keep possession as much as possible and must not be content with the 3-0 but aim at scoring more goals.
“In the return match, we need to play a cautious game. By that, I don’t mean packing a train at the edge of our danger zone. We must keep our ball possession as much as possible and attack and defend systematically. We must not stop looking for goals even here. I see us getting a victory away,” Nyirenda said.
‘Chicken’ George Lwandamina has predicted a tough encounter saying Mozambique will give his side a tough time and has urged the players to be ready for the challenge.
Lwandamina said in an interview in Lusaka on Tuesday afternoon that, the technical bench was also working on the psychological aspect of the players to avoid them being complacent with their lead from the first leg.
“The game won’t be easy because even when you look at it, we won at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium, it was only decided in the last 20 minutes, the 70 minutes were rough. So even in Mozambique they will come on us.
“We have to prepare adequately as we train and we’ll also touch the psychological aspect which we call psyching so that complacency doesn’t creep in,” Lwandamina said.
He said Mozambicans sealed their backline with seven defenders making it difficult for the strikers to penetrate through to the goal and that, Zambia’s win was now history.
“That victory is history. We can only learn from it and use it as a reference point and cannot bank on it. Our starting point as we go to Mozambique is to qualify for CHAN, even the players know.
The game will be different, that is football, situations that will arise maybe the  same,  but most of them different,” he said.