Zambia Women’s National League Champions, Green Buffaloes Women’s Football Club head coach Charles Haalubono believes his team has what it takes to win the 2022 Hollywoodbets COSAFA Women’s Champions League.
Haalubono who was speaking before departure for Durban this morning is confiedent his team has enough quality to compete at the tournament.
The Zambia Army sponsored outfit boosts of several Copper Queens stars like Lushomo Mweemba, Martha Tembo, Agness Musesa, Irene Lungu and Natasha Nanyangwe.
Haalubono believes the experience the players got playing at the 2022 Morocco Women’s Africa Cup of Nations will come in handy at the tournament.
The team will be without influential midfielder and Zambia U-17 Women’s national team skipper Lubasi Pumulo who sustained a fractured leg during preparations for this tournament.
“The preparations went on well ,the only challenge we had is the injury who fractured her leg, everything else went on well.
“Yes we believe in our girls they will deliver,” he said.
“It’s a big boost , the only thing we need now is to continue encouraging them to not underrate any team just because they played at AWCON, they need to continue with the same work they did in Morocco.”
Haalubono has called on fans to come out in numbers and support the team the same way they supported the Copper Queens last month.
Haalubono was also quick to thank the Zambia Army Commander Lieutenant General Sitali Dennis Alibuzwi for the support given to the team.
“We looking towards playing the final. We are requesting for their support. We have seen massive support from the fans , we hope the same will happen to Green Buffaloes , those who can travel should come and cheer us on, we know they will support us,” he said.
“Command has given us a lot of support because it’s not easy, it’s an expensive tournament to feature in and we thank God for our Army commander who has given us all the support, we really appreciate.
Meanwhile Skipper Joana Benaya echoed her cocah’s sentiments on the target and went on to say the team is ready to win and not just be participants.
“We are very much ready, we have prepared so hard our target is to win the tournament.
“The morale is high and we encouraging each other to work extra hard and unite because our main target is to win,” she said.
“It’s encouraging to have the players from the Copper Queens, the way they represented us in Morocco is giving us motivation that we can also do it.
“To the fans keep supporting us and we will not disappoint you as we are not going there as participants but to win.”
The Zambian champions are in Group B alongside Olympic de Moroni from Comoros and Young Buffaloes of Eswatini whom they face in the opening match on Sunday 7 August at 15h30 at the Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium.
