By FAZ Media
The Copper Princesses are fired up for a showdown against the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in; the first leg of the second round of the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup qualifiers at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola tomorrow.
The team enters the fixture buoyed by a strong 4-1 aggregate win over Rwanda in the opening round, aiming to secure another positive result on their journey to a third straight World Cup appearance.
Speaking during the pre – match press conference, Captain Taonga Mubanga expressed confidence ahead of the match, noting the importance of focusing on their style of play rather than being intimidated by the Congolese.
“For tomorrow’s game we are very much ready. Quite alright we don’t know Congo that much, all we know is that they have big bodies but that will not intimidate us. We just have to play a passing game and keep the ball on the ground,” Taonga said.
Copper Princesses head coach Carol Kanyemba, however, warned that the Congolese pose a different kind of challenge, despite having little recent footage of their games.
“Regardless of the previous results, we do not have a lot of footage on the Congolese, but we watched the team in the game they had last year when they played against Benin. We hope their philosophy that they are using is the same, but every crop of players is different, so they come here as a different team altogether,” Kanyemba said.
Kanyemba also emphasized the lessons learned from the Rwanda tie, particularly about respecting opponents and not underestimating them.
She wants her players to apply these insights in the upcoming match.
The DRC team comes into the second round without playing a first-round match after receiving a walkover when Djibouti withdrew.
Coach Baylon Kabongolo acknowledged that missing out on a competitive first-round game was unfortunate but insisted his team is prepared.
“It is quite unfortunate that Djibouti pulled out. It could have been a good preparation for us. But as Congo, we are ready for the match at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium.”
“Zambian women’s football is ahead of us and since we are playing Zambia Copper Princesses we want to apply ourselves. Yes Zambia has been playing but we have prepared well for the game and we are ready,” Kabongolo said.
Meanwhile, Congolese captain Priscilla Mantobo said her side has studied Zambia’s previous matches and is aiming to spring a surprise.
“We are ready for Zambia and to show how good we are. We have had enough time to train despite Djibouti pulling out. We are confident we can win tomorrow. We watched the two games Zambia played against Rwanda and Zambia was good but in our local language we say Leopards are problematic so we will do just that to Zambia,” Mantobo said.
The match kicks off at 15h00 at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium tomorrow.
You can buy your ticket now on the FAZ Techpay platform using this link: https://faz.techpay.co.zm/events/17
