Green Buffaloes coach Charles Haalubono during the 2022 CAF Women’s Champions Green Buffaloes training Session held at the Grand Marrakech Stadium in Marrakech, Morocco on 04 November 2022
Charles Haalubono was left dumbstruck after seeing his side suffer an early exit from the CAF Women’s Champions League following a 2-0 defeat against Simba Queens on Saturday.
The Zambian Army made a strong start to the tournament, with a 4-0 thrashing of Determine Girls, before squandering a one-goal lead to lose 2-1 to host AS FAR at Stade Moulay Hassan.
In their final and decisive Group A game, the COSAFA champions were bounced out of the competition by second-half goals from Aisha Djafari and Opah Clement and even the Zambian tactician struggled to sum up what he had just seen.
Drama to the very end 🤩
Saturday games’ results 🔢#CAFWCL | #EmpoweringOurGame pic.twitter.com/bNlhjmF2N2
— #CAFWCL (@CAFwomen) November 5, 2022
“It is a bit difficult to explain I think the girls tried but were not good enough. We didn’t create enough scoring opportunities. This was the problem we had,” Haalubono said during the post-match press conference.
“Our opponents got few chances and utilised them. We did our best but it was not close to what was required for us to win.”
When questioned about his unenterprising formation, the 43-year-old manager holds a contrary view, with some explanations.
Green Buffaloes coach Charles Haalubono during the 2022 CAF Women’s Champions Green Buffaloes Press Conference held at the Grand Marrakech Stadium in Marrakech, Morocco
“In this game, you cannot stick to attack or defence formation. We moved as a block. When we got a ball our passes were not all that good to connect from one player to the other to reach our opponents’ goal area. That’s where we missed it,” he continued.
They got the goals in the second half but I think it was those lapses in the defence as they couldn’t organize themselves.
“They crossed the ball which was the first means they managed to score and the second was a one-on-one situation where my defendant was overpowered as she couldn’t withstand the power, she lost the style and the striker went ahead to score.”
⏰ FULL-TIME!
🇹🇿 @simbaqueensctz 2-0 Green Buffaloes 🇿🇲
Two second half goals earn the Tanzanian side a precious victory! 🦁 #CAFWCL | #EmpoweringOurGame pic.twitter.com/nHLrPiHvlP
— #CAFWCL (@CAFwomen) November 5, 2022
Despite their early exit from the competition, the manager has refused to be disappointed as he chooses to pick positives from their first ever campaign on the continent.
“We came here to learn, and our target was to reach the semi-finals because we are going to play more games. However, it was good for us even at this level we have come to meet different teams with different experiences and exposure,” he reflected.
“It was the first competition for us and our players as some of them are playing for the first time. So they just find it tricky to adjust to the tournament and environment. It is a very good exposure for us.”
(By CAFonline.com )
Come back guys farming is on here in Zambia. Honestly coach Green Buffaloes girls didn’t look anything near there former selves and the entire management is to blame. Champions leagues is by far the highest level of competition and the coach was so much into he’s comfort zone. When are we going to learn with these old school kind of approaches towards big events? My tired is tayad with the notion of going to the drawing board seriously. We can do better guys.