By ADRIAN MWANZA and GODFREY DUBE –

•Manchester United legend Andy Cole (right), who is in Zambia on a Barclays Bank promotion, with SuperSport marketing manager Marlon Kananda. Picture by JEAN MANDELA

FORMER Manchester United star striker Andy Cole has urged Zambia and other African countries to trust local coaches by giving them priority ahead of expatriates.
Cole, who is in the country on a Barclays Bank promotional tour, said it was unfortunate that most African countries gave preference to expatriate coaches at the expense of locals despite having massive experience.
He said local coaches had a broader understanding of the African game, hence the need to engage them for the top coaching job.
“Local coaches know and understand the atmosphere and the game set-up in their countries, hence the need to engage them on a regular basis,” the former England talisman said.
Cole was full of praise for African players whom he said had positively impacted the English league.
He said African and other foreign players had greatly contributed to the improvement of the Barclays Premier League (BPL) and helped it become prominent.
“Foreign players have made a great impact in the BPL…a number of African players are doing very well,” he said.
When quizzed about former Manchester United player Ryan Giggs taking over as head coach at the club, Cole said the assistant manager had the qualities needed to lead the club.
“It’s not every good footballer that makes a good coach, but I believe Ryan has what it takes to lead Manchester United,” he said.
Cole also played for Arsenal, Bristol City, Newcastle United and Manchester United’s main rivals Manchester City, among other teams in his distinguished career dating from 1988 to 2008 when he retired.
He remains the third highest scorer in the Premier League history with 187 goals.
Meanwhile, SANDRA MWILA reports that Chipolopolo coach George ‘Chicken’ Lwandamina has predicted a good outing to the African Nations Championship (CHAN) that kicks off today in Rwanda.
Lwandamina said after their first training session at Umuganda Stadium in Rubavu that the morale was high in camp and expected a good competition ahead of Zambia’s opening match against Zimbabwe on Tuesday.
He expressed delight that the Football Association of Zambia had ensured that the team jetted into the ‘battle zone’ in good time to acclimatise.
He said arriving in good time would greatly benefit the team.
“We have just completed our first training session here, the first of the final phase of preparations leading up to our opening game against Zimbabwe. It was important we arrived early as it will allow us the time we needed to do the final part of training to be ready.
“What is exciting is to see the high spirits in the camp and the hard work the boys continue to put in. When you are preparing for a major tournament and you see the boys singing and dancing and putting in all that work in the manner they’re doing, then you know that you’re headed for a good championship,” Lwandamina said.
The Chipolopolo yesterday trained in pouring rain at the start of the morning session and needed the use of specially designed Nike light-weight rain coats for the first work-out since arriving.
It has been raining heavily in Rubavu from Thursday night when the team, which is accommodated at Hotel Gorillas on the shores of Lake Kivu, arrived.
Delegation leader Happie Munkondya expressed satisfaction with the accommodation and reception accorded to the squad.