{"id":45720,"date":"2023-07-22T19:50:22","date_gmt":"2023-07-22T19:50:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambia-suffers-double-blow-ahead-of-world-cup-chanda-ruled-out"},"modified":"2023-07-22T19:55:13","modified_gmt":"2023-07-22T19:55:13","slug":"zambia-suffers-double-blow-ahead-of-world-cup-chanda-ruled-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambia-suffers-double-blow-ahead-of-world-cup-chanda-ruled-out","title":{"rendered":"Zambia Suffers Double Blow Ahead of World Cup-Chanda Ruled Out"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zambia. <\/strong><\/span>World Cup debutants Zambia have faced a significant setback ahead of their Group C opener against Japan on Saturday as they confirmed the unavailability of their key attacking midfielder, Grace Chanda. The influential 26-year-old player, a former captain of the team, has been ruled out of the tournament due to illness, according to team officials.<\/p>\n

This marks the second major withdrawal for coach Bruce Mwape\u2019s side, following the serious knee injury of first-choice goalkeeper Hazel Nali last week. Nali was replaced in the squad by 18-year-old Leticia Lungu.<\/p>\n

Zambia team doctor, Faith Chibeza, didn\u2019t provide further details regarding Chanda\u2019s illness but an inside source revealed that she had been hospitalized for treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrace Chanda has been taken ill, and unfortunately, she won\u2019t be able to take part in the tournament. We have done everything we can to help her, and she is receiving all the necessary attention,\u201d said Chibeza.<\/p>\n

With 28 caps for Zambia and 15 goals scored for her country, Chanda\u2019s absence will be felt deeply. However, the team is looking to young talent to fill the void, as 18-year-old Comfort Selemani steps in to replace her. Selemani was initially part of the preliminary selection but narrowly missed the final cut.<\/p>\n

Despite these challenges, coach Mwape expressed confidence in his team\u2019s abilities. He remains optimistic that the Copper Queens can compete against any opponent in the tournament, drawing motivation from their surprising 3-2 friendly victory over world number two, Germany, a fortnight ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as I am concerned, we are not underdogs. The only ones who might think that are our opponents. We don\u2019t think that, we regard ourselves as a big team that can challenge any other team in the world,\u201d Mwape stated.<\/p>\n

He also emphasized the team\u2019s extensive preparation over the past two months, believing that they are fully ready to take on any opponent in the World Cup.<\/p>\n

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

Africa-Press – Zambia. World Cup debutants Zambia have faced a significant setback ahead of their Group C opener against Japan on Saturday as they confirmed the unavailability of their key attacking midfielder, Grace Chanda. The influential 26-year-old player, a former captain of the team, has been ruled out of the tournament due to illness, according […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":45718,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[234,235,233],"class_list":["post-45720","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 Suffers Double Blow Ahead of World Cup-Chanda Ruled Out - Zambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"World Cup debutants Zambia have faced a significant setback ahead of their Group C opener against Japan on Saturday as t ...\" \/>\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-suffers-double-blow-ahead-of-world-cup-chanda-ruled-out\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Zambia Suffers Double Blow Ahead of World Cup-Chanda Ruled Out\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"World Cup debutants Zambia have faced a significant setback ahead of their Group C opener against Japan on Saturday as t ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambia-suffers-double-blow-ahead-of-world-cup-chanda-ruled-out\" \/>\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=\"2023-07-22T19:50:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-07-22T19:55:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2023\/07\/sm_1690039465.773138.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1449\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"889\" \/>\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-suffers-double-blow-ahead-of-world-cup-chanda-ruled-out#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambia-suffers-double-blow-ahead-of-world-cup-chanda-ruled-out\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Zambia Suffers Double Blow Ahead of World Cup-Chanda Ruled Out\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-22T19:50:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-22T19:55:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambia-suffers-double-blow-ahead-of-world-cup-chanda-ruled-out\"},\"wordCount\":341,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambia-suffers-double-blow-ahead-of-world-cup-chanda-ruled-out#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2023\/07\/sm_1690039465.773138.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-suffers-double-blow-ahead-of-world-cup-chanda-ruled-out#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambia-suffers-double-blow-ahead-of-world-cup-chanda-ruled-out\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambia-suffers-double-blow-ahead-of-world-cup-chanda-ruled-out\",\"name\":\"Zambia Suffers Double Blow Ahead of World Cup-Chanda Ruled Out - 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