Brighton & Hove Albion's Mwepu reveals his World Cup dream with Zambia

Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder Enock Mwepu is eager to fulfil his dream of guiding Zambia to the Fifa World Cup.

The 23-year-old has his eyes on a ticket to Qatar for the 2022 edition, as he wants Chipolopolo to take part in the tournament for the first time in their history.

Zambia are in Group B alongside Equatorial Guinea, Tunisia and Mauritania and they would need to negotiate their way to the top in order to advance to the final playoff round where the 10 group leaders will face off to pick the five qualifying tickets for the continent.

"It has been my dream to try to qualify for the World Cup and take Zambia to the World Cup,” Mwepu told Caf’s website.

"There is this opportunity now; we are just starting to try to re-organize and see what we can achieve together as we play Mauritania in the first game."

They face Mauritania for their opening fixture in Nouakchott on Friday and the Premier League star believes the outing could set the tone for their upcoming games in the second round of the qualifiers.

After Friday’s trip, Zambia are scheduled to host Tunisia for their second group match at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium.

"It is a very crucial game, we are starting our World Cup qualifiers and we know that we did not do well in the previous qualifiers of the Africa Cup of Nations," he said.

“If we can pick up three points in an away game then we are sure that we have something to look forward to at the end of this tournament. We must just bring ourselves together and try to do what we have to do to focus and achieve something.”

Mwepu was part of the Zambian team that missed the 2018 World Cup in Russia after they finished second in the qualifying group behind leaders Nigeria.

Zambia, unfortunately, did not qualify for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon and they would need to wait for the qualifiers of the 2023 edition in Ivory Coast before returning to the biennial showpiece since their last appearance in 2015.