The Zambia Women’s national team will tomorrow go head to head with Banyana Banyana of South Africa in an international friendly match.
The match is part of the Copper Queens preparation for the Morocco 2022 Africa Cup of Nations final round qualifier against Namibia.
South Africa coach Desiree Ellis expects a tough match against Africa’s sole representatives at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“The experience that Zambia gained at the Olympics is second to none. It will be a very competitive game and that is the reason why we took this International Friendly for us to get ready for the Algeria game,” – Ellis said.
Copper Queens boss Bruce Mwape has declared his lasses ready for tomorrow’s clash.
“The team is ready for the friendly game against South Africa game tomorrow. The purpose of this game is to increase the fitness levels of our players before we meet Namibia and also expose the young players who are with us for the first time,” he said.
“The reason why I have said to raise the fitness levels of our players, am sure you are aware that teams were on recess and only started training recently hence to have good fitness we needed to have this high profile friendly match against Banyana Banyana,” he added.
Skipper of the side Barbra Banda believes the game will help the team in planning for Namibia.
She has also called on the fans to turn up in numbers and support the team.
” The morale is high in camp. Everyone is looking forward to tomorrow’s game. It is not an easy game but it’s a game that will give us a way forward for the qualifier against Namibia. It will add a lot of value to us.
“We are playing at home so we would like to urge the fans to come in numbers and support the team. The fans are the 12th player and its always exciting playing at home.”
The Copper Queens and Banyana Banyana will square tomorrow at Nkoloma Stadium at 15:00hrs.
The match is part of preparation for Wednesday’s AWCON final round first leg qualifier against Namibia.
Both the friendly and the first leg will be played at Nkoloma stadium in Lusaka.
The Copper Queens will then travel to Windhoek for the second leg match against the Brave Gladiators set for February 22nd.
The winner over two legs will qualify for the AWCON tournament that will run from 2-23 July and also doubles as the African qualifiers to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup to be held in Australia and New Zealand.
