Believe…. Something special is in the making…….
The 3-1 demolition of the Young Pharaols at the Heroes Stadium Saturday the 3rd of March 2017 Young Chipolopolo proved to be momentus. We can proudly say congratulations to the boys.
What ever happens on Wednesday in the semi final we are still going to watch the boys in action come the weekend of 10 to 12th March. Further to that they will still entertain us to those early to mid morning matches due to time zones while in South Korea come May/June.
Reminds of the 1988 Seoul Olympics where Zambia destroyed Italy and Guatemala. It’s probably a topic for another day.
The bootcamp in Spain was a necessary distraction for the boys after winning the Cosafa junior tournament. The expose’ to those youngsters who every so often get to meet modern greats like LM10, CR7, LS9 etc was important to team building. It seemingly is paying fruits as they appear not to be scared of opponents.
These boys need to be nurtured and nurtured well. And a unity from them can be built to conquer the world even more.
Their graduation to the senior national team should be enmasse and potentially straight to starting line up. I know I am stirring up the hornets nest and sure someone is saying you are getting overly excited at the little success these boys have exhibited. There is no little success in football. Every match is a different ball game altogether and must be celebrated like there is no tomorrow. Football can bring happiness and sadness within a shortest period of time.
Guinea lost the opening match to Zambia while the other two group members drew. And most bookmakers wrote them off. It was down to Zambia and either Egypt or Mali to make it to the semi finals. Here we are. There is a possibility that Zambia again can meet Guinea in the final or third and fourth play offs. And Guinea could come in for a revenge. Have the final laugh. That is the beauty of football.
Therefore my excitement on the Young Chipolopolo need to be overly emphasised. Allow me to celebrate and dance my lungs out.
Why do I demand the induction of these youngsters to the starting eleven of Chipolopolo seniors? The reason is simple partial graduation can be very negative. Not too many players have gone on to make it at national team having spent time on the bench. The national team matches are few and apart. Names get forgotten simply because of one bad match. The recorrective time is so short and possibly never there.
This posse’ of Youngsters has a marvellous age setup and have advantage of growing exponentially to new heights. It’s this team that I believe will be unleashed for the upcoming 2020 Olympics qualifiers which by the way is limited to U23s.
Given what these boys are gelling well. It would be prudent that twelve or more of these boys are graduated to the senior team and get blended with fading experience in some senior chaps.
Football maybe a strange game but realistically speaking we don’t stand a chance of qualifying to the World Cup in Russia. Its about time we focused on the Qatar 2022 World Cup. And by which time these free scoring Fashion Sakalas, Patson Dakas, Enock Mwepus and company will be in their mid twenties with a lot of experience at their disposal.
Afcon 2019 qualifiers start in June. We can have the tough and tested Kennedy Mweenes and his colleagues compete in that. Why the youngsters get the much needed international exposure in the World Cup qualifiers.
It will be like having a two tier national team setup like we used to back in the day in Zambia A and Zambia B. Both teams where just as strong. We can archive this once more.
These boys are heading to South Korea and by any chance they will be exposed to more international scouts. If anything quite a few might be courted after this tournament. Most serious clubs would rather make moves now than wait for the world cup junior. Depending on the performance valuation can escalate. A risk now in enticing that player would be logical.
I spoke about players being in the starting team and not on the bench in the preambles of this piece. Bench warming can be detrimental to any player especially at national team as games are few and apart. These are things that sensationally disillusioned players like Emmanuel Mayuka. In Switzerland he was a star player but moving to Southampton was probably a most regrettable move. Financially might have been amazing the him but football wise it sent him backwards. He has been tossed from club to another. Collins Mbesuma suffered the same fate. It took him years and a lot of introspection to rediscover his form. But age is another factor. These are just a few names in the world of football that we can relate to now.
Therefore it would be imprudent to have these upcoming youngsters to be called to the national team and be frustrated on the bench. If the technical team is not ready to unleash them into the starting line up. There is no need to call them to camp and disturb their rhythm of development at club level. Nothing is learnt in five days or so in camp at national team level. It’s either you are in the team or not.
But my money is on these boys to take Zambian football to the next level. They have shown the capacity and capabilities. It’s time to unleash them. We need a bold technical team.
Our current key national team players have won the ultimate prizes in African football. And a few of them have achieved even more. Players like Kennedy Mweene and Rainford Kalaba…Afcon senior trophy, Caf Champions League, World Club Cup participation, Caf super cup medals. And host of league medals at their respective clubs. There is no zeal left in them anymore rather than just being footballers as professionals.
Let us believe in these boys. Give them the burden to carry the Zambian dream. THEY CAN DO IT! AND THEY WILL DO IT.
