. LWANDAMINA

By GWEN CHIPASULA –
ZAMBIA coach George Lwandamina has bemoaned going to the Africa Nations Championships (CHAN) tournament without star forward Winston Kalengo whom he has described as irreplaceable.
Meanwhile, dropped Toaster Nsabata says he has no hard feelings about being left out of the travelling party and wished the team well in Rwanda.
At   yesterday’s Press briefing at Nkoloma Stadium, the last before today’s expected early departure, Lwandamina said Zambia just have to cope and that another player would just have to fill Kalengo’s boots at the tournament.
He said that Kalengo had his own attributes which made him tick and would be a big miss in the Zambia starting team.
Kalengo signed with Congo Brazzaville’s AC Leopards just over a week ago and was effectively ruled out of the squad preparing for the African Nations Championship CHAN.
“Every player is different. Winston is Winston and we cannot have any replication to that. of course other players are good too but they cannot have the exact attribute as those which Winston has but we shall be able to have someone to play in his place,” he said.
The coach said he had been working on team endurance, which is  a key factor when heading  to such a tournament and that two of the three needed phases had been completed with the last phase to be done in South Africa.
Lwandamina said his first target was to get past the group stage of the competition and see how far the team can get after that and praised the crop of players he has in his team including Christopher Katongo and Isaac Chansa.
And Zambia under-23 captain Toaster Nsabata says he is not bitter at being dropped from the final CHAN squad which leaves today.
The Zanaco goalkeeper was a surprise exclusion from the list of players making the trip to Rwanda despite captaining the under-23 right up to the Africa Nations under-23 tournament held in Senegal two months ago.
“That’s football. It is competitive and I cannot always expect to make it into the final team. I am not the first one to be left out and it is definitely not the last time because this is football. I am not bitter and all is well with me,” he said.
Nsabata was dropped from the camped CHAN team together with fellow under-23 defender Boyd Mkandawire of Napsa Stars in a move  meant to remind the two to step up.
In Nsabata’s place, coach Lwandamina preferred his understudy at Zanaco Racha Kola which he said was pushing him to work hard so that he finds his way back into the squad.
He said attention will now switch to his club Zanaco who are preparing for the 2016 CAF Confederation Cup campaign and tomorrow leave for Mongu for pre-season training.
On the national coach picking Kola, his deputy at Zanaco ahead of him,Nsabata said he was happy to see his team mate make the final squad.
“Actually I feel excited because it shows that at Zanaco, we have a great goalkeeper trainer in Kalumba Mounga. We have three great goalkeepers who can play at the national team. Me, Racha (Kola) and Mangani Banda. It’s because of coach Kalumba that we are featuring in the national team,” he said.
He wished the best for the team and expects it to finish in the top three. Zambia is in group D with Mali, Uganda and Zimbabwe.