Zambia to camp in Ghana before clash with Nigeria

Nigeria’s main challenger for a spot at the Russia 2018 World Cup, Zambia has decided to camp in Ghana to prepare for next month’s crunch Group B qualifier against the Super Eagles, reports GHANAsoccernet.com.

The Chipolopolo will spend a week in the West African nation to acclimatise ahead of the must-win game. According to Zambia’s itinerary, the CHAN and COSAFA team will head to Spain for a two-week intensive training before the foreign-based players link up with the rest of the squad in Ghana to finalise preparations.


“So we will send them to Europe for two weeks. The players who have been playing COSAFA and CHAN will go first and then their colleagues will join them, then we will move into Ghana for a week then go into Nigeria and fight to win because we believe we have a chance to go to the World Cup,” FAZ president Andrew Kamanga said.

The Super Eagles lead Group B with 10 points and would need an outright win to confirm their third straight World Cup qualification, while Zambia need a win in Uyo to tie with Nigeria on 10 points to take the group down to the wire.

Kamanga says October’s World Cup qualifier against Nigeria is a must win match to ensure their qualification for the 2018 tournament in Russia.The Super Eagles, who are undefeated in four matches in the qualifiers, are being tipped by many pundits to take care of business and qualify for their sixth World Cup, but Kamanga is brimming with confidence after the Chipolopolo did the double over Algeria.

“We are putting in every effort to make sure that this team is adequately prepared as we face Nigeria, which for me is the do or die game as whoever wins that game will be assured of going to Russia 2018,” Kamanga told fazfootball.com.

“But most interestingly in this group, we are the only ones who have never been to the World Cup, but with the favour we continue to draw on we should be able to qualify, come November because we have the advantage of playing Cameroun in the final round.”