Copper Princesses head coach Carol Kanyemba says the round of 16 showdown against Canada will be a good test for her team.
The Copper Princesses qualified to the last 16 after a 4-0 thumping of New Zealand to finish as one of the four best third placed teams.
Canada on the other hand finished as group D winners beating Nigeria 4-1, Samoa 6-0 and France 2-1.
Kanyemba is aware of the big task ahead of her team as they face a very potent Canada side.
“First and foremost, I want to say thank you very much to God who made this result possible. He gave us wisdom, he gave us strength and wisdom as well to be able to undergo this. I want to say thank you very much as well for putting up a splendid performance. We promise to give the Zambians such a result because I know what the girls are capable of doing. But knowing that at this stage most of us have not been here, they get jittery at times. But we spoke to them and told them to give it their all as they play this final group game. And the best will definitely come out of it,” Kanyemba said.
“And we thank God that whatever they did, they put in the best and definitely it has yielded results. So even as we prepare to play against Canada, we are sending the same message to the girls. Canada has been doing very fine in the group stages, scoring more than three goals in every game. Being a developmental tournament, I think it’s a very good test for our girls to see how we can be able to contain such a team and also penetrate their defense that haven’t considered, I think, any goals in this tournament. So it will really be a good test for our girls,” she added.
Meanwhile skipper Mercy Chipasula says the team is thankful to the fans for the supporting they are showing the team.
“Our people in zambia thank you very much for your support continue supporting us thank you very much,” she said.
Zambia and Canada will square off on Wednesday at 21h00 CAT.
