ZAMBIA Under-20 national soccer team has kicked off their Spain training camp in Spain with a victory.

The Beston Chambeshi side beat Tenerife B junior team 1-0 yesterday.

An 85th minute goal from Spain-based midfielder Mwape Mumba handed Zambia the win.

Chambeshi selected his strongest starting eleven, making two changes to the team which defeated South Africa in the U-20 Cosafa Cup final on December 16.

Chambeshi said he was impressed with the performance of the team but stressed the need to work on the striking force.

“The game was fine, we are happy with the way the boys played. We still have to put in a lot of work because we missed a lot of good chances. But we are still preparing and we have to improve especially in defense; we don’t want any slip ups there,” said Chambeshi.

“Today’s opposition gave us a good run; it was not an easy team. We have learnt one or two things. In the next game, we have to polish up in both attack and defense. We hope to score a lot of goals in our next practice match with Basel because the U-20 AFCON which we are preparing for is about scoring goals.”
And Zambia senior national team coach Wedson Nyirenda, who is part U-20 technical bench, advised the players to remain focused and keep their concentration.

“I think we are getting better. It’s been about two months since the U-20 Cosafa Cup final. We controlled the game from the first whistle and the boys showed good character. This is a sign that we have a good foundation for the senior national team,” said Nyirenda.

Meanwhile, Zambia will face FC Basel’s B side in their second game on tomorrow at 13:00 hours Zambian time.
The Junior Chipolopolo will also face Las Palmas and Real Madrid reserve sides on 4th and 6th February respectively.

The team will head back home next week ahead of their February 12 friendly in Ndola against their South African counterparts ahead of the championship which Zambia will host from February 26 to March 12.