Chipolopolo to test Mambas venom without four key players

Chipolopolo coach Dario Bonetti has a striking predicament to overcome as he heads into the final week of preparation for the vital 2012 Nations Cup qualifier against the Mambas of Mozambique. The Italian born coach is without leading strikers Jacob Mulenga of FC Utrecht who is still recovering from a long-term injury. The Zambia coach travelled to the Netherlands last week to check Mulenga’s condition but returned disappointed after finding out that his highly rated forward can only manage individual light training.

On return, the Zambia boss was greeted with news that Emmanuel Mayuka, scorer of Zambia’s second goal against Mozambique in Maputo last March was a doubt with a knee injury. A thigh strain suffered by African champions league winner Given Singuluma of TP Mazembe further compounded Dario’s striking options; news which was further worsened by the withdrawal of influential midfielders Noah Chivuta due to suspension and Felix Katongo because of an injury suffered in a league last weekend.

Bonetti says even with the injuries to some of his key players, he would work out a strategy to beat Mozambique because victory against the Mambas would almost guarantee qualification from Group C which also has Libya and Comoros.

Bonetti told cafonline.com that three points against Mozambique would all but qualify Zambia to the 28th Nations Cup finals.
“Our camp is underway and we’re looking forward to the game. Between now and next Saturday, we have enough time to prepare and prepare very well for us to play our game and get the result we want. We have many injuries which is not good. But we will see the physical conditioning of the players as they arrive at the team hotel and then decide what schedules to take them through as we follow our training programme,” Bonetti said adding: “We may have to keep the Olympic Team striker Roger Kola to give us another option upfront because with a win against Mozambique, we will be 99.9% in the finals. So the challenge we have is to ensure that we are at our best and do the job on the day.”

The Chipolopolo tactician refused to underrate Mozambique or declare his Chipolopolo outright favorites; cautioning fans to expect a tough clash.

“We won’t be going into this game thinking that we have already won. It will be a tough match because Mozambique is competitive. We know they will come here to fight to stay in the competition. But we will be ready. Our challenge is to motivate the players and ensure that they don’t underrate Mozambique. We must play with 100% commitment or in fact 200% commitment as Kalusha (FAZ President) would always encourage us to do. The fans should be patient with the team and give support from start to finish because we’re determined to do the best for the country. We want to win something big for Zambia,” Bonetti said.