Zambia Women’s national team head coach Bruce Mwape was impressed with his team’s display in their 1-0 win over North Macedonia on Wednesday.
Mwape was however not happy with the lack of clinical edge in the final third in a game he felt they could have won by a big margin.
Zaragoza CFF striker Hellen Mubanga played her first game after a 15 month lay off due to injury and Hellen Chanda returned for the first time since the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The Copper Queens gaffer was left impressed with the contribution of the duo despite not playing for the national team since 2021.
“I think our girls played good football although the scoreline was not what we expected. We expected more goals than the one zero. We dominated play from the first half but we only managed to score a goal at the end of the match,” he said.
“I think Kundananji did well mostly and made a few mistakes and also Hellen Chanda and Hellen Mubanga played well despite having missed from the team for sometime.”
“The areas of concern are just the final third, the build up was good and the midfield we played well but just the finishing. We need to work on finishing,” he added.
Next up for the Copper Queens is Slovenia on Saturday and Mwape says the team will focus on finishing off chances, something which they lacked against North Macedonia.
“Looking at the way they played they were more defensive hence we did not since much of this team. Maybe they need to improve if they are to compete with better teams. For me we could have won by a bigger margin,” he said.
“I think the two games we need to improve on finishing will be our main emphasis.”
Grace Chanda scored in the dying minutes to hand the Copper Queens a well deserved 1-0 win.
