The Zambia Women’s National Team will today take on Ghana in the first leg of their third round 2024 Paris Olympics Qualifiers.
This will be Zambia’s first game in the race to Paris having been exempted in the first round and gotten a walkover in the second round after Mali pulled out.
This is set up to be a very interesting and competitive encounter.
The last meeting between the two teams came in 2018 in an international friendly which saw Zambia come from two goals down to win 3-2.
Rachel Kundananji scored a hat-trick in the absence of skipper Barbra Banda to guide the Copper Queens to a hard fought win.
Ghana on the other hand, saw off Guinea 7-0 on aggregate and Benin 5-0 on aggregate.
The Black Queens have one loss in their last eleven matches. They have scored 34 goals in the eleven games and conceded just two.
In a boost to the team’s morale, each player received a $7500 cheque as part of their outstanding bonuses, just before their final training session on Thursday.
Coach Nora Hauptle will look to the likes of Doris Boaduwaa, Evelyn Badu, Freda Ayisi, and Portia Boakye for a result against a strong Zambia side.
Meanwhile the Copper Queens have eight wins, two losses and a draw in the same number of games.
Coach Bruce Mwape on the other hand will look to skipper Barbra Banda and the most expensive female football player in history, Rachel Kundananji to lead the charge.
Catherine Musonda is expected to start between the sticks with Lushomo Mweemba, Pauline Zulu, Martha Tembo and Esther Banda likely to make up the back four.
Midfielder workhorse Evarine Susan Katongo and the amazing Ireen Lungu are expected to be joined by either Avell Chitundu, Hellen Chanda or Marjory Mulenga in the middle of the park.
Rachel Nachula, Kabange Mupopo, Comfort Selemani and Friday Kabwe will battle for a place upfront to join Kundananji and Banda.
Kick-off against the Black Queens at the Accra Sports Stadium will be at 17h00GMT (19h00CAT).
The reverse fixture will be played at Levy Mwanawasa stadium on Wednesday, 28 February.
The winner of the two-legged fixture will qualify to the fourth and last round of the qualifiers to face the winners between Morocco and Tunisia.
Congratulations our copper queens ladies for downing the black queens.
Who scored the only goal for our copper queens