Zambia eyes 2014 World Cup

After securing a place at next year's Africa Cup of Nations, Zambia has now been urged to reach the 2014 Brazil World Cup finals, the Times of Zambia reported on Monday. Zambia managed to sneak into the Africa Cup finals after beating Uganda 9-8 on penalties away in Kampala last weekend. Minister of Sports Chishimba Kambwili said the team should ensure that it qualifies for the World Cup, a feat it has never achieved, adding that the team has now matured to a level where it should compete at the World Cup. "We should get in a situation where in future when we look back, we should say, we had an opportunity and we made it count. We went to the World Cup, won and also defended the Africa Cup, instead of regretting what could have been," he was quoted as saying by the paper. The Zambian minister further said the odds were now tilting in Zambia's favor after the world soccer governing body docked points from Sudan and awarded them to Zambia after the Sudanese used a suspended player during a World Cup tie with Zambia. Zambia now leads Group D on six points while Ghana has three points. Sudan and Lesotho have a point each. The next round of World Cup qualifiers for African nations will be played in March next year.