FOOTBALL Association of Zambia (FAZ) president Andrew Kamanga has expressed optimism that the Junior Chipolopolo will win the 2017 Under – 20 Africa Cup of Nations being staged in Zambia.

Speaking when he addressed the team on Wednesday morning, Kamanga urged the players ensure that they do their best in a bid for Zambia to be crowned African kings at youth level for the first time.

Zambia plays South Africa’s Amajita in a mouth-watering semi-final clash in a bid to book a place at Sunday’s final slated for Lusaka’s National Hero Stadium.

“Qualification to the FIFA Under-20 World Cup finals was our primary target. I am proud that we achieved this with a sense of sheer class, passion and pride befitting our people and our motherland.

“When we set out on this journey, we kept on reminding ourselves what we had achieved in the last decade at junior level and the possibility of replicating our previous achievements most notably the 1999 and 2007 Under-20 groups’ stage that played at the FIFA World Cup,” Kamanga said.

Fazfootball.com reports that Kamanga said the team should continue to be good ambassadors of the country through football.

“Our Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) executive is confident that the boys will rise to the occasion as they have so far done in the tournament and lift the Under-20 trophy for the first time.

“In our quest to rekindle our past glory, we have not shunned away from the possibility of being crowned African Champions, a feat that has eluded Zambia for many decades. As you take to the field this evening, I want to remind our players that nothing is impossible in life,” he said.