Zambia U17 Women’s National Team head coach Carol Kanyemba says she has told her team not to be complacent as they face Tanzania on Saturday in the second leg, second round Morocco 2025 U17 Women’s World Cup qualifiers.
The Copper Princesses thrashed their Tanzanian counterparts 3-0 away in Dar last weekend.
Kanyemba however believes the job is far from being done as the team still has 90 more minutes of football to play to seal their passage to the third and final round.
“We thank God we recorded that we won 3-0 away which gives us the advantage but does not finish the job. Another ninety minutes we have to play and we have always told our girls not to be complacent. Not to be comfortable with the away result because anything can happen in football so we are telling our girls to remain focussed and continue the task where it was left from,” she said.
“We appreciate the 3-0 win and we know that sometimes it gets to the heads of players but history has taught us that teams have recorded healthy away wins and lost at home. We use such moments to teach our players that anything can happen in football. Moreover teams come with a different mindset in the second leg so even as we go into this game we tell the players to remain focussed. We didn’t start well in Tanzania,the girls were a bit jittery but we spoke to them and changed their mentality at halftime and made tactical changes that made an impact for the team.”
“It was a good learning moment for us. There were some debutants that brought in some good contributions to the team. We need this more than anything we have a lot to lose compared to Tanzania. Everyone has been pushing us and supporting us, we are not ready to disappoint our fans and the people who have been there to support us, so there are a lot of expectations from this game and this team. The Girls know what is at hand and they have promised to work hard and bring a positive result,” she added.
Kanyemba has declared her team fit and ready for the match against Tanzania.
The Green Buffaloes assistant coach has seen progress from the last qualifiers and the new ones after the team scored three goals away having faced to score a single goal in the 2024 World Cup qualifiers.
“We have a team that is fit and ready to play. We have minor knocks but those are things we can work around,” she said.
“The progress has been there because of last year’s qualifiers, everybody wrote us off because of our away record but thank God that we managed to score , keep a clean sheet and win. I think the attitude and mentality has been positive and even the approach we have us coaches has also changed because football is a learning process, we picked up a lot of lessons from last qualifiers and we working on them and rectifying, it’s evident of the result we accumulated in the first round, so we continue to learn because it’s a continuous process.”
“Most of the players that have been retained are defenders, which is the backbone of the team. If you have a strong back four , I think you can win games, if you fail to score, you should be able to keep a clean sheet. The experience we got from the World Cup qualifiers, the tournament itself and COSAFA has contributed positively and the consistency that has been there has also helped. That has really helped us solidify the team, it becomes easier for us to get goals because the backline is confident and able to keep a clean sheet which motivates the whole team,” she added.
The Current Copper Queens squad has a number of players who started their journey at the U17 Women’s World Cup like Barbra Banda, Grace Chanda, Margaret Belemu among others and Kanyemba feels this group also has the potential to reach the top and emulate their elder sisters.
“They all have potential but what you do outside the pitch really matters on how you make it in life. It will depend on how they take their careers seriously, who manages them and what they do off the pitch and outside training really matters in life,” she said.
“Otherwise technically and tactically at U17 if they are able to understand certain things and carry on with them I think they will be able to do much much better in life.”
Meanwhile Captain Mercy Chipasula feels it won’t be an easy game against Tanzania at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
“It won’t be an easy game, they will come with full force so no under rating them, we won 3-0 yes but we have not finished the job, we need to push and finish the job well that we started in Tanzania,” she said.
“We need to win because our seniors win from this stadium so we also need to leave a win here.”
“We need to work hard , me and my friends. We are pushing as a team and we just need to follow the instructions of the coach,” she added.
Kick off at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium is set for 15h00 with tickets selling at ShopRite stores countrywide via Computicketing from as low as K30.
