Zambia Women’s National team captain Barbra Banda is confident the team will go to Japan compete at the Tokyo Olympics in Japan in July and not just add up numbers at the biggest sporting spectacle.
Banda went on to say that the morale in camp is high and preparations are going very well. The team has been in camp preparing for this prestigious event for almost 3 months now.
“We have been in camp for quite some time and the preparations are going so very well everyone is pushing the morale in camp is very high we are looking forward to going and compete at the Olympics,” Banda told the ZamFoot Crew.
“We have been in camp for quite some time and the preparations are going so very well everyone is pushing the morale in camp is very high we are looking forward to going and compete at the Olympics.”
The Copper Queens skipper currently plays in China and is on the books of Shanghai Shengli hence she knows what is at stake given that will face China as one of the teams in Group F.
Banda went on to talks about the importance of good friendly games, how the newcomers in the team are adapting, and the importance of having the support of the 17 million-plus Zambians.
“They know me but am not going there as a friend to them, when it comes to work am always serious with what I do, am going there to compete against them am not looking at my friends that know me, that side,” Banda told the ZamFoot Crew in an interview.
“Firstly they are at the senior team it’s not junior so they have to adapt to follow the coach’s philosophy, they are no longer under 17 when they are here they have to push hard and work extra hard to prove to the coach that they can feature in the team, so it’s their time to show what they are capable of doing and do their best, I’m always encouraging them to push very hard and not to look on themselves as young players.”
“They (fans) are expecting good performance so what I can say is for them to look up to us and we will deliver good results we won’t let them down we just need their support and the country at large we asking everyone to support us, to encourage us and have confidence in us.”
“I think looking at the team this is what we want most because where we are going it’s the high level of football so we need to have more international friendly games I should say we need to have that exposure of playing teams that are organized and very different tactical of play and the discipline of play so we need that exposure for us to go and do our best,” she added.
Banda went on to advise foreign-based players not to relax as the local players and newcomers are putting in good shifts.
“They will make a difference but they shouldn’t be relaxed to say they are professionals and just coming to feature in the team there are young stars and local players and everyone is pushing so hard so they have to come with a challenge for themselves they have to be on top of the game when they come for them to find numbers in the team,” she said.
“It has helped us since the day we came in camp, the time has been so long and the organization of the team has been very well, the coordination of the team and I think we know each other very well now because we have been together for quite some time, ” She concluded.
The Copper Queens are among 12 teams that have qualified for the Olympics and are the only representative from Africa.
Bruce Mwape’s lasses were drawn in Group F and will face Brazil who is making a seventh appearance at the tournament, Netherlands, and China who will set an Asian record with their sixth participation at the biggest sports festival that kicks off in July.
The Olympics will officially run between 24th July and 9th August 2021, but sporting action kicks off two days before the opening ceremony with preliminary women’s football matches set to light up the occasion for various sports disciplines.
Go Girls our eyes are fixed on you. If you can replicate the form you displayed against Cameroon, you will be conquerors on Tokyo