Zambia Women’s National team head coach Bruce Mwape has set the 2022 COSAFA Women’s Championship as the first step in the preparations for the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
Mwape believes it is time to assess players that can be included in the team’s preparations for the World Cup.
Mwape was speaking at the Kenneth Kaunda International Airport before the team’s departure for South Africa.
“This is an annual event that we participate in and we use it usually to asses our local players. It is important for us to look at players that can be included in the preparation for the World Cup. It is the time to asses most of players. We also want to look at other teams and how they are playing but the most important part is that it is the first part of our World Cup preparations,” he said.
Meanwhile, Copper Queens Vice Captain Ireen Lungu says everyone is ready for the tournament and believes winning the tournament will mean the Queens are ready for the 9th edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup which will take place in Australia and New Zealand between the 20th of July and 20th August 2023.
The Copper Queens qualified to the World Cup following their amazing run at the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations where they won bronze after finishing third.
“Everyone is ready and they all want to compete. We just have to gauge ourselves and pull up our socks so that we can find ourselves in the final,” she said.
“The tournament is part of the World preparation. If we win the tournament it will mean we are ready for the World Cup.”
The 10th edition of the regional showpiece will be hosted in South Africa from August 31-September 11.
The Queens first match in Group B will be against Namibia on September 1st at 15h30 at the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium, with their second match coming up against Lesotho three days later while their last group match against Eswatini is set for 6 September.
The tournament has three groups and only the top team in each group and the best-placed runner-up among the three pools will qualify to the semifinals.
