By 
Chisi Mbewe, Zambia U20 men’s national team coach has named his final 21-member squad for the TotalEnergies U20 Africa Cup of Nations which kicks off on Sunday in Alexandria, Egypt.
Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) media has reported that injury has knocked out Red Arrows midfielder Joseph Sabobo Banda .
The niggling pain in his leg has failed to clear off in good time for the tournament while the rest of the absentees are Henry Mbuti, Lackson Tembo and Moses Mulenga.
The 21-member squad will head to their tournament base in Alexandria after having spent eight days in Ismailia to acclimatize to the chilly conditions in Egypt.
It stated two foreign based players Peter Chikola (Cardiz-Spain) and Richard Ngoma (Maccani Netanya-Israel) are expected to join the squad on Sunday in Alexandria.
“With the tournament falling outside the FIFA window, some of the players sought after by the technical bench could not be released by their clubs as they (clubs) are not obliged.”
Mbewe has declared the team ready for the tournament after having played three international friendly matches that saw Zambia play Nigeria in Abuja and Senegal in Thies, before facing South Sudan in Ismailia.
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The junior Chipolopolo lost 4-2 to the Flying Eagles before falling 1-0 to the baby cubs of Senegal and wound up their friendly games with a 3-0 drabbing of South Sudan.
Zambia is in Group C alongside Tunisia, The Gambia and Benin.
The first match for Mbewe’s boys will be against Benin on Tuesday before facing The Gambia on Friday with the final match being a tie against Tunisia.
Top two teams in the group will qualify to the quarterfinals where a prestigious FIFA World Cup slot will be the prize for qualifying to the semi-finals.
Zambia last qualified for the U20 AFCON in 2017 when they won the title on home soil and went on to reach the quarterfinals of the FIFA World Cup in South Korea/Japan.
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