Sports Minister Backs Chipolopolo Bench
Sports Minister Emmanuel Mulenga has confirmed its backing of the Chipolopolo technical bench and its confidence in the capabilities of coach Milutin “Micho” Sredojevic.
In a performance report meeting between the Minister and Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) representatives led by General Secretary Adrian Kashala and FAZ Technical Director Lyson Zulu, Mulenga said government awarded Micho the coaching contract because of the hope and trust that it had in his leadership.
The Minister stated that President Edgar Lungu was committed to financially supporting the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Child Development. He also provided reassurance that Micho and the team would be given full support ahead of back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier matches next month when the team is scheduled to play Botswana’s Zebras.
“I have actually instructed the Director of Sport to make sure that you are paid in good time. For October you need to be paid before the end of next week. We don’t want to be in arrears as government in paying coaches,” said Mulenga.
“In doing that, we know that you are going to perform as expected by the Zambian people. As you are aware, we represent and speak on behalf of the Zambian people and the Zambian people do have trust in you. They do have trust in you even the time we delayed in signing your contract they (people) actually made a lot of noise that we need to sign this contract because we trust this coach,” the Minister continued.
“Since the Zambian people trust you, we as government trusts you and we know that you are going to perform,” Mulenga added.
“The games we are going to have on 12 and 16 (against Botswana) are do or die, there is no losing. We have done our part as government so it’s up to you and your boys to do your part and make our soccer fans proud because they want us as a country to return that glory we had,” Mulenga said.
The meeting followed the recently ended FIFA window for international matches, during which the Zambian national team recorded to victories, against Malawi and South Africa, and one defeat against Kenya.
“We still have a number of friendly games that we have lined up, we want to make sure that our team is ready for the AFCON qualifiers come November against Botswana because we still feel that we have a chance to qualify to AFCON,” Kashala said.
Meanwhile, Micho has spoken of his determination to instil iron discipline in the national team.
“We are determined to establish iron discipline absolute order and organisation and fanatic hard work with family atmosphere,” he stated.
“I would like us to function under a fanatic hard work because we are far from every person being the best version of himself. I would like us to function on absolute order and organization every minute and moment that we know what we are doing and of course. I would like us function under iron discipline that whatever is normal we follow and whatever is abnormal is unacceptable,” he continued.
Micho says he continued to assess the functional chemistry in his squad and would put emotions aside when making selections for the side.
“I need to tell you that each and every player and person involved are my personal friends but when it is a question of professional work I put all the emotions aside and strictly put my best as the guardian of Zambia,” he said.
Micho is currently focused on planning for the Botswana fixtures in November.