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THE Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) will write to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) over Equatorial Guinea’s use of overage players during Saturday’s 2014 Canada World Cup qualifier against Zambia.
Equatorial Guinea beat Zambia 2-0 in the first round first leg at Sunset Stadium in Lusaka.
Both FAZ communications manager Erick Mwanza and executive committee member in charge of Women’s football, Lenny Nkhuwa, confirmed in Lusaka on Saturday that the association will lodge a complaint to CAF.
“These are developmental teams and it is sad that some countries can go to such an extent just to qualify. We will lodge an official complaint to CAF over this matter,” Mwanza said.
The alleged overage players are Ngo Nyepel, who netted a brace against Zambia, Olive Christelle, Maria Lucia, Ada Bindag, Rita Andeme Obiang, Perpetual Uguchi Okadike and Camila Maria Nonre.
And Nkhuwa said some players in the Equatorial Guinea team were part of the team that won the Africa Championship last year.
“They came with 11 new passports and some players in the squad were part of the African Championship winning team,” she said.
Meanwhile, FAZ president Kalusha Bwalya commended the team for putting up a spirited fight despite losing.
Kalusha said women’s football in Zambia is still growing and that the under-20 squad showed great character.
“I am not disappointed with the result. We are growing as a team and that is the most important thing. We were playing a team that has been champions before and I think we did well under the circumstances. Equatorial Guinea have been up in the game for a long time, so we knew it was going to be tough. I am sure the girls will account for themselves well in the return leg,” Kalusha said.
And Nkhuwa commended the girls for going down fighting and is optimistic of a positive result in the return leg.
“Our girls are young and we are not cheating. Against a team like Equatorial Guinea, I think we played well,” she said.
The return match is scheduled in a fortnight’s time.
SOURCE: Zambia Daily Mail
