Zambia: Injuries Rock Rangers As Zesco Intensify Preps

29 March 2011

Zambia’s envoys in the 2011 Orange CAF Confederation Cup Nchanga Rangers have been hit by injuries going into the first round return match against FC Saint Eloi Lupopo of the Democratic Republic of Congo set for this Saturday at Nchanga Stadium in Chingola.

And Zambia’s CAF Orange Champions League representatives, Zesco United yesterday shifted their training base to Lusaka to intensify preparations for this weekend’s first round, second leg against Young Buffaloes of Swaziland.

Rangers coach Bruce Mwape in an interview named the injured players as striker Kangwa Chileshe, midfielder Boyd Chanda and rightback Levy Zulu but expressed hope that the trio will recover ahead of the match.

Mwape said after the team’s morning training session that he was hoping that the trio would recover by tomorrow saying Chileshe and Chanda have knocks while Zulu has an ankle injury, all sustained during training last week.

“Three players have injuries; I hope they will recover by Wednesday. The rest of the players are okay and responding well to training. We were doing light training this morning; we will intensify this afternoon,” he said.

Rangers president, Richard Kazala said his executive was ready for Lupopo, who had by press time not communicated their arrival day.

Kazala said he was optimistic that Rangers would overcome a 1-0 deficit suffered in Lubumbashi a fortnight ago in Lubumbashi to qualify to the second round.

“We are prepared for them. Everyone is expecting us to win by at least 2-0 to qualifying to the next round,” he said.

And Zambia’s CAF Orange Champions League envoys, Zesco United yesterday shifted to Lusaka to intensify preparations for this weekend’s return leg against Swaziland’s Young Buffaloes in Manzini.

Coach Fighton Simukonda has only made one change to the squad that thrashed Buffaloes 5-0 in the first leg, dropping midfielder, Maybin Mwaba for Potipher Zulu, who missed the match because of a CAF suspension.

Zesco secretary, Justin Mumba said in Ndola yesterday that the team moved to Lusaka to enable the players training on Independence Stadium’s synthetic turf.

Mumba said Zesco were not taking anything for granted, hence the need for the team to train on artificial and natural grounds.

He said the team wanted to be ready for any kind of pitch in Swaziland, since they were not sure of the ground they would use at the weekend.

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