CHILUFYA UNFAZED BY U17 COSAFA FORMAT CHANGE

THE Zambia Under-17 Men’s National Team coach George Chilufya says he is not concerned about the change in the 2020 COSAFA Men’s Under-17 Championship playing format from groups to round-robin.On Friday, COSAFA announced the disqualification of Botswana, Comoros Islands, Eswatini and Zimbabwe from the Championship on the basis of fielding over-age players, leaving only the Young Chipolopolo, hosts South Africa, Angola and Malawi to fight for two Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations slots and the title.This means Zambia’s 2-0 win over Comoros will not count, as the case with the results of other Matchday 1 and 2 fixtures, but Chilufya says Friday’s match offered an opportunity for the boys to get a feel of the real action.“It may look disturbing but the situation we are in shows us that we should expect the unexpected. What is important is to psych the boys, let them understand (what happened) and be ready for the next match,” Chilufya said.“It was a good warm-up game; the boys are in the right mood having tested the tournament. It also gave us an insight of what other teams are thinking about us,”“Everyone looks ready for us but we just have to believe in ourselves and our abilities. We have met (with Angola) in tournaments but it’s a team that prepares well that wins the game and hopefully it will be us,” He added.Under-17 captain Miguel Chaiwa said despite the change in fixtures, the team’s target remains the same.“We need to focus in our next game against Angola because our target is to win all the games. For us, if we manage to win all the games, it will be good for us,” said the skipper.The match against Angola will take place today with a lunch time kick-off at Gelvandale stadium in Port Elizabeth and will be followed by a South Africa Vs Malawi fixture at 15:30hrs. – FAZMEDIA