By GWEN CHIPASULA –
SUSPENDED Zambia under-17 coach Oswald Mutapa has described the disqualification of his side from the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) championship as extremely bad.
And various stake holders have reacted angrily to the expulsion saying Zambia’s name had been tainted.
Mutapa, who refused to comment more on the matter, said he was happy with the move taken by FAZ and the decision to investigate the matter further.
Defending champions Zambia had reached the semi-finals of the competition before they were tossed out of the COSAFA tournament for age-cheating when two players Nicholas Mulilo and Benjamin Phiri were found to be above 17 years after an MRI scan.
Coach Mutapa who is expected back in the country today with the team said the players are all sad about the disqualification, adding that it was an unfortunate way to exit the event.
“I can only give you more comments when I am back in the country. Otherwise the situation is bad and it will have to involve investigations. I feel bad because the players are sad but only God knows how things will go,” he said.
And on the suspension, Mutapa said he could only comment once investigations are concluded.
Meanwhile Zambia Football Coaches Association vice-president (ZAFCA) Lewis Shambulo said ZAFCA is disappointed with the situation.
Shambulo said in an interview yesterday that the matter was a big blow to the football family, adding that the development was likely to make other players suffer.
“We do not even know other consequences that will follow because this is a big disappointment to Zambia. In this time and era, you can not do that. There must be something big and very wrong here because the other players are also affected,” he said.
And Damiano Academy proprietor Damiano Mutale said the development is embarrassing, adding that Government needs to come in the matter to help in investigating who is at fault.
Mutale said the decision to suspend the technical bench was welcome in order to pave way for investigations.
“This will definitely disturb the work of the president because this has never happened to Zambia for the past 30 years. It is a great concern to the nation and FAZ need to get to the bottom of things to see who was on the wrong,” he said.
Meanwhile, efforts to get hold of Fairview Hospital where the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan was conducted before departure for the tournament proved futile.