Kenyan Premier League (KPL) side AFC Leopards former head coach belives Zambia U20 National team have what it takes to win the 2017 U20 Africa cup of nations. He however feels that Mali and Senegal will have a huge say in where the trophy will end up.
Ivan Minnaert has hinted at the quality of players that Zambia have as one of the major factors that will help them come 2017.
” Mali is one of the favorites, At the 2015 world championship they came out third and their U17 came out second at the Chile 2015 World cup. Most of the U17 players have graduated to the U20 and have benn together for sometime now”- Minnaert told Soka25east.com in an exclusive interview.
” Zambia will play before an enthusiast crowd and they have a lot of players with good abilities and experience. Senegal always produce good teams at all levels”-he added.
” One of the players for Mali Aly Male, I met him last week. He won the Bronze ball at U17 World Cup in 2015 but he was not sure if his team, Granada CF will allow him to come participate. Another key player is Kanté, a central defender of Rsca Anderlecht. The player is now the best in Chato, when he was at U17 he played for me in the first team at Djoliba, playing even in CAF competitions, he is a leftback but I used him as left winger”- Minnaert said.
Zambia will host the U20 AFCON between February 26 and 12th March and the top four teams will qualify to the U20 World Cup.
