Zambia Women’s National Team Coach Bruce Mwape has spoken highly of team captain Barbara Banda who was exceptional in the opening game against Lesotho when she scored a hattrick and was named player of the match.
Speaking in an interview after Friday’s training session at the Old Grey Fields, Mwape said Banda is a key player and adds so much experience to the team and she’s a player to watch out for.
“Barbara is our captain and of course one of the key players, she has been around for some time now graduating from the juniors to the senior team and she has really improved as a professional player and this time she has gained so much experience, every other team we are going to meet they will fear her because everyone is now talking about her because she is playing good football,” he said.
Mwape further said people should expect a lot from her in this tournament.
“People should expect a lot from Barbara, her coming out as a player of the match against Lesotho was just the beginning of great things to come for her and if we go up to the finals, people should expect her to be the player of the tournament,” he said
The Copper Queens gaffer said Banda’s presence in the team is a Morale booster to everyone.
“Barbara’s presence in the team has brought in a lot of Morale in the team, to the technical bench and mostly to the players because she is always encouraging them to work hard especially to the juniors to perform according to expectations.”
Zambia will meet Malawi on Monday in their final Group B match at the Wolfson Stadium at 12h30 Kick-off time to determine who makes it to the semi-finals of the tournament.
Barbra has really improved. She is prolific striker. As a Team they will go high. Displine is paramount. Lets not be complacent towards Malawi game. To Coach Bruce Mwape, he is a good Coach know well back when I was a foot ball player at Nortec. We met in ZHISA 7 aside Finals held at University of Zambia 1982.