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Zambian U-23 soccer team urged to beat Cote d'Ivoire for Olympic berth

Xinhua, July 15, 2015 Adjust font size:

Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) president Kalusha Bwalya on Wednesday urged the U-23 national soccer team to beat Cote d'Ivoire to brighten chances of qualifying for the 2016 Summer Olympics men's football tournament.

The third qualifying round for the 2015 CAF U-23 Championship will kickoff this weekend with Zambia away against Cote d'Ivoire.

Bwalya said ahead of the first leg, third round qualifier match that the team should get a favorable result in Ivory Coast and qualify to the Senegal CAF U-23 Championships as the qualifying for the tournament was a stepping stone to the Brazil 2016 Olympics.

"We need to get to Senegal and put up a good performance which should see us go to the Brazil games. Making it to Brazil will offer you a chance to be at one of the biggest football platforms in the world. But before that we need to put in our best. I am glad that you have the potential to go all the way," he said, according to a statement posted on the association's official website.

The Zambia soccer chief, who played at the Olympic Games in 1988, said he has confidence in the team to do the country proud.

Coach Fighton Simukonda has assembled an 18-man squad that will take on Cote d'Ivoire in Abidjan on Saturday.

Seven aggregate winners will join Senegal in the final tournament, which will take place in Dakar and M' Bour between Nov. 28 and Dec. 12, 2015. Top three teams will qualify for the 2016 Olympics. Endi