Austria-based Chipolopolo midfielder Enock Mwepu says the Under 23’s qualification to the Africa Cup of Nations (AfCON) in Egypt means everything to the team.

The Red Bull Salzburg player described the team as very courageous.

The Chipolopolo boys qualified to the Egypt 2019 Africa Cup of Nations on Sunday after defeating Congo Brazzaville 5-4 on aggregate.

The team will join eight other countries at the AfCON in November.

Top three teams will automatically qualify to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

“We believed that this team cannot beat us. We just raised the courage within ourselves that we just have to do this. These things are special, it means everything to me, I am so happy and excited about my teammates. They gave everything up to the end,” Mwepu said.

“I am excited about the goals; I am praying that I will keep scoring for this team knowing that the best is yet to come. Unbelievable for me, it is something that I did not even expect. I did not expect that I would score. In football, it is always a good thing to score. Our word for the supporters is to keep believing that we shall make the nation proud. Of course, we have done it before and played games that have made them proud.”

He said his team was not intimidated even when the referee gave Brazzaville a penalty in the fifteenth minute.

“…the Chipolopolo boys were challenged but believed that the West African country cannot beat Zambia. We expected frustrations, we expected that they would treat us that way. We gave it everything and goals came in. It was a plus to us. It was a challenge for us because that was not a penalty. We kept the belief knowing that every Zambian was praying for us,” said Mwepu who further urged supporters to be constructive in their criticism of the players.