Zambia: Rangers, Chiefs Match Off

Xavier Manchishi

11 March 2011

Pretoria — NCHANGA Rangers’ preparations for next Friday’s Orange CAF Confederations Cup preliminary round first leg match against St Eloi Lupopo of Congo have suffered a setback after their proposed friendly against Kaizer Chiefs was put off.

With the Chiefs game chalked off, the only other realistic match Nchanga is likely to play in the remainder of their 13-day pre-season tour will be against SuperSport United between today and tomorrow.

Delegation leader Blackwell Siwale said the match against the ‘Amakhosi’ had been put off because the two parties could not agree on the dates the warm-up match would be played but a game against Moroka Swallows could materialise.

Siwale, however, said Nchanga would not sit on their laurels and moan the cancellation of the game against Chiefs, saying playing SuperSport and Swallows in the remaining four days of the tour could suffice.

“They wanted us to push the game to Monday but the coach is not of the idea because it will be too near to the game in Congo. For SuperSport, we have set everything, its just the dates are yet to be confirmed between Friday and Saturday,” he said.

Tomorrow when Chiefs should have played Nchanga they will be up against National First Division inland stream side Nathi Lions while SuperSport, the outgoing ABSA Premier Soccer League champions defeated Collins Mbesuma’s Golden Arrows in the Nedbank Cup on Wednesday.

Siwale also confirmed that a host of scouts representing various unnamed South African clubs had thronged Nchanga’s Pretoria University High Performance Centre (HPC) base seeking the signature of some players.

“We have been telling them that we are also in a building process and at this stage we cannot allow any of our players to leave. Besides, the transfer window is closed. We are happy with the interest clubs have in our players,” he said.

Coach Bruce Mwape was not amused with his charges for their poor showing in the game against Amatuks on Wednesday as well as 2-2 draw against a hastily arranged friendly with Second Division side Soshanguve Sunshine coached by Zambian Jacob Sakala.

Mwape admitted that he had made up his final 18-member squad but decided to keep his cards closer to his chest as he continued to observe some of the junior players coming through ranks from the academy like Emmanuel Phiri and Masauso Tembo.

He said against Soshanguve, the players were fatigued and he would not want to tire them too much with another friendly next week before meeting Lupopo.

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