{"id":36833,"date":"2022-12-21T23:15:10","date_gmt":"2022-12-21T23:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambia-u-23-national-team-eager-to-qualify-for-afcon"},"modified":"2022-12-21T23:35:42","modified_gmt":"2022-12-21T23:35:42","slug":"zambia-u-23-national-team-eager-to-qualify-for-afcon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambia-u-23-national-team-eager-to-qualify-for-afcon","title":{"rendered":"Zambia U-23 National team eager to qualify for AFCON"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zambia. <\/strong><\/span>Zambia U23 National Team coach Oswald Mutapa has challenged his players to take a lesson from the junior national teams that have qualified for their respective Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournaments.<\/p>\n

Mutapa says both the U17 and U20 national teams have shown consistency through hard work, and it will only complete the junior football cycle if the U23 replicates their performance and qualifies for the 2023 AFCON to be held in Morocco in June.<\/p>\n

Zambia dates Egypt in the third and final round of the 2023 U23 AFCON Qualifiers on March 19, 2023, before hosting the North Africans eight days later.<\/p>\n

Both the U17 and U20 Men\u2019s National Teams qualified for the continental showpiece to be held in Algeria and Egypt in perfect style after emerging champions at the COSAFA Championships that were used as qualifies for the AFCON.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to get a leaf from the U20 and U17 teams that have all qualified for the AFCON, it means we have to work extremely hard to do the same. The young boys have done it, and we can equally do the same but it\u2019s all about hard work,\u201d Mutapa said after overseeing his charges slump to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of the U20 in a practice match played at National Heroes Stadium.<\/p>\n

Moses Mulenga and Emmanuel Mukosha scored for the U20 but in the second practice match, Mutapa\u2019s charges defeated Chisi Mbewe\u2019s lads via an Enock Sakala junior solo goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a tough (against Egypt) one but it\u2019s all about preparation and the way we account ourselves on the day of the game. We will play the first game away and the following week we play the last game so we will have our last hurdle which we have to look at and prepare well,\u201d Mutapa said.<\/p>\n

The U23 Tournament in Morocco will serve as the African qualifying for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The top three teams of the AFCON will qualify for the Paris Games while the fourth-place team will play the playoffs to decide the final slot.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Zambia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zambia. Zambia U23 National Team coach Oswald Mutapa has challenged his players to take a lesson from the junior national teams that have qualified for their respective Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournaments. Mutapa says both the U17 and U20 national teams have shown consistency through hard work, and it will only complete […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":36832,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[234,235,233],"class_list":["post-36833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-zambia","tag-zambia"],"yoast_head":"\nZambia U-23 National team eager to qualify for AFCON - Zambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Zambia U23 National Team coach Oswald Mutapa has challenged his players to take a lesson from the junior national teams ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambia-u-23-national-team-eager-to-qualify-for-afcon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Zambia U-23 National team eager to qualify for AFCON\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Zambia U23 National Team coach Oswald Mutapa has challenged his players to take a lesson from the junior national teams ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambia-u-23-national-team-eager-to-qualify-for-afcon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Zambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-21T23:15:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-21T23:35:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671651937.25.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambia-u-23-national-team-eager-to-qualify-for-afcon#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambia-u-23-national-team-eager-to-qualify-for-afcon\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Zambia U-23 National team eager to qualify for AFCON\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-21T23:15:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-21T23:35:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambia-u-23-national-team-eager-to-qualify-for-afcon\"},\"wordCount\":366,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambia-u-23-national-team-eager-to-qualify-for-afcon#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671651937.25.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Zambia\",\"Zambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambia-u-23-national-team-eager-to-qualify-for-afcon#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambia-u-23-national-team-eager-to-qualify-for-afcon\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambia-u-23-national-team-eager-to-qualify-for-afcon\",\"name\":\"Zambia U-23 National team eager to qualify for AFCON - 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