The Zambia Women’s National Team, The Copper Queens saw off Democratic Republic of Congo 1-0 at the ongoing TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2024 to progress to the quarter finals.
Racheal Kundananji’s early strike proved decisive as Zambia claimed a hard-fought win in their final group A match.
The Copper Queens took the lead in the 9th minute when Kundananji stepped up and curled a low free kick beyond the outstretched arms of Ruth Khonde which proved to be the difference.
The ZamFoot Crew now looks at how the players performed on the day.
Ngambo Musole -7.5 – She kept her first clean sheet of the tournament. A generally good performance from the Green Buffaloes Women’s Football Club goalkeeper who in the last two games received a lot of criticism for her part on some goals.
A solid performance, she made some good saves and her positioning was on point.
Margaret Belemu – 6.5 – She tarted the game poorly misplacing her passes but grew into the game and did well defensively.
Hopefully she grows into the tournament going forward.
Rachel Nachula – 7.5 – Another solid performance from the veteran. If someone started watching her now they can’t even know that she is a striker.
One of coach Nora Häuptle’s best decisions was to convert Nachula to a fullback. Did well both defensively and going forward every time she overlapped.
Mapalo Maluba –7.5 – The youngster has stepped up well partnering Lushomo Mweemba at the heart of defense.
She put up another quality performance against DR Congo.
Lushomo Mweemba – 8 – The Turkey based defender is probably Zambia’s best defender of the last seven years and continues to grow from strength to strength.
She again commanded the defense making important interceptions, blocks and making sure Musole was protected.
Mary Wilombe – 8 – Mary Wilombe has been having a great tournament so far and against DR Congo she continued on that path.
She was good at mopping up everything that was left in midfield and distributed the ball well.
Ireen Lungu –8 – The female computer had probably her best game so far at the tournament.
She was very involved in the thick of things.
Fridah Mukoma –6.5 -The China based forward had a decent game and troubled the DR Congo defenders with her pace.
The teenager still has room to improve with her decision making but overall very positive outing.
Barbra Banda -7 -Not the best game from Captain fantastic who had one of those rare days. One of those rare instances when you realize she is human, had few chances to either score or set up a teammate and nothing seemed to work.
However, she worked a lot as a second striker and won the free kick that was converted by Rachel Kundananji.
Racheal Kundananji -8– This has been her tournament, a brilliantly taken free kick to become the first Zambia Women’s National Team player to score in three group games at WAFCON.
She bull dozed the defenders and made them work.
She was named the official player of the match, her second accolade at the tournament and in back to back games.
Mercy Chipasula – 7 – The 17 year old made her debut at the tournament and had a good game generally.
Her touch is special, so smooth but still a lot of room for improvement with some decision making, no doubt she is gifted.
SUBSTITUTES
Prisca Chilufya – 6.5 – Came in and injected some pace and energy in the game.
Evarine Susan Katongo –8– In only 13 minutes, Katongo showed her special quality, calm on the ball with intelligent passes. Her first appearance had fans applauding as she found Barbra Banda with a ‘Mwepuesque’ Ninkumona pass.
Martha Tembo and Kabange Mupopo N/A
