Copper Queens forward Grace Chanda has revealed that the team has set its sights on qualifying for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia/New Zealand 2023.
Chanda says the team has played every other Competition and now wants to compete at the World Cup.
The BIIK Kazyugurt forward believes the team needs to work hard and work together to achieve their set target.
The Queens will face the Morocco Women’s national team tomorrow in an international friendly match and Chanda says the team wants to win the match to prove to the fans back home that they are ready for the AWCON.
“Things are going well, We have arrived in Morocco, and we are happy since this is what we wanted. We just need to be ready, we only remaining with about 15 days before the games start. We just need to work hard in the friendly games that we will have,” she said.
“The game against Morocco will help us because they play high-intensity games and we are ready for them. It’s a high-profile match, two top teams facing each other.
” We are aiming for the win tomorrow against Morocco. We went to the Olympics so everyone knows that and we need to prove with a win or if the worst goes to the worst a draw. The whole country has put their hopes in us so we need to work hard in tomorrow’s game to show that we are ready for the tournament.”
“The morale is high in the camp, Most of the players have been to big tournaments like World Cup (U-17), AWCON, and Olympics. The coaches are also helping by pushing us, we are all working together.
“We just want to qualify for the World Cup, we have played the Olympics and AWCON so we just want to make it to the World Cup. That’s the main target that we working towards,” she added.
Chanda believes the first game against Cameroon is the most important in their group as it will set the tone for the tournament especially since they are playing a familiar opponent.
The former ZESCO Ndola Girls striker has urged the fans to continue supporting the team throughout the tournament.
“Our group, we looking at the first game, it’s very important, we have faced each other before and know each other’s weaknesses. We have never faced Togo and Tunisia so it will be a new experience,” she said.
“Facing Cameroon won’t be easy, they want to revenge the loss (in the final Olympics qualification) but we also want to beat them. We just waiting for that day.”
“The League in Kazakhstan sometimes looks hard and sometimes easy but Personally am fit and ready to help the team. I have settled a bit but am waiting to play the UEFA Women’s Champions League so that I can face teams like Barcelona, Bayern, and the like, then I will say I have settled.
” To the fans, keep supporting us guys, we love you, don’t relent we are your people,” she added.
The Copper Queens are currently in Morocco preparing for the AWCON which will run from July 2-23. Tomorrow they will face Morocco at 21:00 Zambian time at the Moulay Abdellah in Rabat.
The Top four teams at the AWCON which will run from July 3-23 in Morocco will qualify for the World Cup that will be held in Australia and New Zealand next year.
Two more teams will be involved in play-offs with teams from other continents.
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