Road to Tokyo 2020 – The Mwepu factor

The Zambia U23 national team will take on Congo Brazzaville on the 4th of September at the national heroes Stadium in the first leg of the 2019 Egypt U23 AFCON qualifier. The Beston Chambeshi tutored side beat Malawi home and away by a lone goal to set up a meeting with Brazzaville.

Teamwork will be key for the ‘Dream Team’ to qualify to the tournament but individual brilliance will just be as important.

Enock ‘Computer’ Mwepu is the pillar of the team. For those that may not be aware let’s go back in memory and remember how the then U20 national team crumbled once he was injured against Italy and substituted.

The Redbull Salzburg man has always been an important figure for the team. During the U20 AFCON in 2017 which Zambia Won he scored just one goal but assisted four of the 13 goals just scored and was involved in the build-up of another two, Meaning he was involved in over half of the team’s goals.

At the World Cup, he scored two goals assisted one and was involved in the build of two more goals. He was again a vital part of the setup and once he got injured against Italy the team failed to cope without him and were subsequently eliminated from the tournament.

Zambia will host Congo Brazzaville on September 4th in the Egypt 2019 Africa Cup of Nations final round qualifier to be staged at National Heroes Stadium at 18:00 hours. The return leg will be held four days later in Pointe Noire with the winner qualifying to the tournament.

Top three teams at the tournament will qualify to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Tickets for the September 4 clash are already selling across Shoprite outlets via Computicket.

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