U15 kick off 8-nation campaign in Croatia

THE Zambia Under-15 national team will today kick-start their “Vlatko Marković” International Tournament against North Macedonia in Osijek city in Eastern Croatia.The match which kicks off at 17:15 hours will be the fourth fixture of the tournament named after former Croatia Football Federation president, national team coach and former player Vlatko Marković who served the Federation for 14 years.Prior to today’s fixture billed for NK Graficar stadium, Chisi Mbewe’s fledglings were involved in a series of friendlies against City of Lusaka, Barcelona Academy, Yasa Academy and Kafue district select youth sides before stopping over in Egypt for a two day training programme.The practice matches gave insight to Mbewe and his assistant,Aaron Kawangu as to what to expect from the budding stars.Mbewe is cautiously optimistic going into the first fixture that may require the boys to shake off possible strands of stage fright and jet-lag.“First game against Macedonia is a game that we are looking forward to. I feel this is the game that we really need to be alert from the first whistle and be able to study our opponents since it’s the first game of the tournament and we really need to make sure that we don’t drop points,” Mbewe said.Zambia’s other Group B fixtures will be against Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania while Group A comprises hosts Croatia, Qatar, Montenegro and Bulgaria. FAZMEDIAThe Sun