ZESCO United Football Club Team Ya Ziko
ZESCO United head coach Numba Mumamba faces serious competition among his players ahead of Saturday’s semi-final game against Kansanshi Dynamos.
Mumamba a product of Konkola Blades Football Club fabric will be gunning for victory against a team where he honed his footballing skills and still retains legendary status.
The ZESCO United gaffer, however, faces a daunting task to pick his starting XI ahead of Saturday’s clash.
“There is competition here because everyone is putting in great effort in training. This will give us headaches to come up with a starting XI that will represent us in the semi-finals against Konkola Blades,” he said.
Mumamba has demanded for an improved performance from his players after struggling to put away Kansanshi Dynamos in the quarterfinals of the competition.
“We are playing Konkola Blades a team that is on song. This is a game that we must take very seriously. We really need to improve in terms of our performance unlike the way we performed in the quarter finals. I think our performance wasn’t good. It wasn’t to the expectation of everyone.
The only good thing is that we got a victory that got us to the semifinals. We need to up our game against Blades because it won’t be easy. We are geared for this game, but we shouldn’t go in it with an element of winning it before it is played,” he warned.
Meanwhile Mumamba has praised ZESCO United players for putting up a splendid performance in the league and for qualifying to the Absa cup semifinals.
“We are very happy that we reached the semifinals of the Absa cup competition. I think the team has been performing very well. We are going into this game in order to fight to get to the finals so that at least we see what happens in the finals.”
Meanwhile ZESCO United’s opponents in the Absa cup semifinal, Konkola Blades are sailing towards what looks like a possible promotion back to the Super League.
Blades who currently top the league table in the FAZ/Eden University National Division One will be overflowing with oomph when they meet the super league leaders and Absa cup defending champions having managed to beat another super league giant, Forest Rangers to qualify to the semifinals.
“Of course, this is a game that will be tough. I have already started receiving calls from people in Chilabombwe telling me that they will beat us like they did to Forests Rangers. However, we are totally a different team and I think football is played on the pitch. All these emotions will come to an end after the game. We are currently focusing on the game so that we carry the day.
I have also told my players to go into this game with the right attitude because it is totally a different competition. You lose you are out of the tournament and there is no room to recover. We don’t have to slip up because that will be the end for us,” Mumamba concluded.
Author: Desmond Katongo
