Red Arrows striker and 2021/2022 Golden Boot winner Ricky Banda is back in training after missing last Sunday’s league game against Kansanshi Dynamos due to an injury.
Banda missed Arrows’ 3-0 home win over Dynamos at Nkoloma Stadium in Lusaka in what was their last domestic fixture before kicking off their 2022/2023 CAF Champions League this Saturday.
Arrows host Primeiro de Agosto of Angola on September 10 in a CAF Champions League first round, first leg game at National Heroes Stadium in Lusaka.
Goalkeeper Charles Kalumba also missed Arrows’ win over Kansanshi due to an injury.
“Both players are back in training, and they are OK,” Arrows team Doctor Ephraim Mpanza said. “They are fit for the game on Saturday.”
Banda and Kalumba sustained their injuries while in league action on September 1 in Arrows’ 1-0 away loss at Kabwe Warriors.
In Banda’s absence, Arrows coach Chisi Mbewe started veteran James Chamanga, who scored one of the three goals in the victory over Kansanshi.
Banda scored 16 goals last season for Arrows which helped propel the Lusaka club to their second-ever league title since 2004.
But Banda has yet to score in four competitive games this season. Meanwhile, this Saturday’s CAF Champions League will be Arrows and Agosto’s second continental encounter over the last eleven months.
Last October, the two sides met in the 2020/2021 CAF Confederation Cup’s second round.
Arrows beat Agosto 1-0 in a final leg tie at home in Lusaka via a Chamanga goal to advance to the pre-group stage by the same aggregate score line.
Simba SC of Tanzania later eliminated the Zambian club.
Interestingly, Arrows has the same match sequence with another potential meeting against Simba awaiting this month’s winner in October’s pre-group stage round of this season’s CAF Champions League.
However, Simba must also overcome Nyasa Big Bullets this month in their first-round meeting.
