Sports minister Chishimba Kambwili says the Zambia national soccer team will travel to Ghana on a chartered plane to protect the team from pre-match intimidation tactics emanating from that country ahead of Friday’s crunch World Cup qualifier match. Some Ghanaian players and officials have been reported to be inciting their fans to rise against Chipolopolo players when the two teams clash in the final group qualifier, alleging that they too were mistreated when they lost the reverse fixture at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium on June 2. In an interview yesterday with The Post Newspapers, Kambwili said the Black Stars were in panic mode because they knew that they would lose the match. “A charter is extremely convenient for the team’s travel into Ghana; they will leave on Wednesday, have a feel of the venue, play the match and fly out immediately after the match,” he said. “There are other factors that we considered; the information coming from Ghana…it is alleged, not proved, that there will be intimidation, so we cannot take chances, plus we don’t want the team to make too many connections because there are no direct flights from Zambia straight to Ghana, so it’s just convenient for the team and nowadays it’s not right to fly the national team on commercial flights,” Kambwili said. Kambwili said the whole nation was behind the team and urged them to be confident and not lose focus because victory was certain come Friday. “We have beaten Ghana before and it is not a different Ghana that we have beaten. Even if they are calling all those big names, it does not make any difference; it just amounts to panicking, so we can win that match,” said Kambwili.