Zambia Women’s national team Coach Bruce Mwape has predicted a tough game against Botswana in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Qualifier third-round tie.
Speaking in an interview with the ZamFoot Crew, Mwape said the match won’t be easy because both teams want to Qualify to the Olympics.
“This game, in my opinion, will not be that easy they know us we know them all I can say it will be a 50-50 affair were everyone wants to win and qualify for the Olympics,” he said.
Mwape is happy to have Barbra Banda back in the squad and he feels her presence and experience will add value to the team.
“It’s important to have Barbra in the team, firstly she’s the captain of the side and secondly she has played for this team for quite some time now and she’s been our top scorer in most of the games we played so having her in the team will help us to add more value in the game. Because we need to win that game at all cost, the game must end here unless otherwise but as far as am concerned her presence will add value to the team.”
Coach Mwape said his team won’t be under pressure playing at home despite a lot of expectations from people after a great outing at the recent 2019 COSAFA Women’s Championship in South Africa were they came out as runners-up to Banyana Banyana, instead he has called on soccer fans to turn up in numbers and support the team.
“Playing at home to me is an advantage because we expect our soccer fans to come in numbers and support the team. So the pressure can be there because people are expecting a lot because of our performance in South Africa at the COSAFA tournament. I don’t think the pressure will be too much we have played a good number of games with the same players so they have gained experience so that pressure will not be all that.”
Zambia will miss the services of some key players like Agnes Musesa, Anita Mulenga, European based duo of Rachael Kundananji and Misozi Zulu, the technical bench have managed to make some adjustments to the team and Mwape believes the available players will deliver the needed results.
“We have managed to make adjustments on the two local players who are not with us. There are some who did not play during the COSAFA and one was injured but she was always playing for the team before the injury so on that one there’s no problem,” Mwape said.
“There could be a difference here and there on Recheal and Misozi but it won’t be that much because the players we have can still be able to deliver,” he added.
Copper Queens and The Mares will revive their rivalry once more tomorrow afternoon at Lusaka’s Nkoloma Stadium in a clash billed for 15:00hrs in the first leg of the 2020 Olympics Qualifier with the return match coming up 4 days later in Botswana.
Olympic Qualifier Third round
Zambia vs Botswana
Time :15:00hrs
Venue : Nkoloma Stadium
What is the kickoff time
Results please