Zambia head coach Nora Häuptle has urged her side to quickly put their narrow defeat to Nigeria behind them and shift their full attention to a decisive final Group C clash against Malawi, insisting the Copper Queens remain firmly in control of their own destiny at the 2026 TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
The Copper Queens suffered a 1-0 defeat to the record 10-time African champions on Saturday after Asisat Oshoala struck in the eighth minute at Al Madina Stadium, ending Zambia’s hopes of securing back-to-back victories following their emphatic 6-0 win over Egypt.
The result leaves Zambia needing victory over an unbeaten Malawi side, who have won both of their opening group matches, to secure a place in the quarter-finals.
Despite the setback, Häuptle struck an optimistic tone, insisting her team produced a competitive display against one of Africa’s strongest sides and must now channel that performance into the decisive encounter with their neighbours.
“For us it’s to focus on us and not Malawi,” Häuptle said after the match.
“They are through with six points. We know what we need to do. We need to get points, we need to beat them to stay in the tournament. This will be our approach – go out with full courage.”
The Swiss coach believes Zambia can take confidence from pushing Nigeria all the way despite failing to capitalise after the Super Falcons were reduced to 10 players.
“We faced the current champions of the tournament, we lost 1-0 and it was a very close game,” she said.
“We allowed them two big chances and that was it. Overall, it was not a bad game.”
Häuptle admitted Zambia failed to make their numerical advantage count after switching to a 4-4-2 system in the second half, with her players abandoning the possession-based football that had brought success against Egypt.
“The objective was to be more dominant on the ball and use our numerical advantage,” she explained.
“But we started playing ‘Chipante Pante’ football. When you are one player more on the pitch and you just hit every ball long from the centre-backs, it doesn’t help you dominate the game.”
“We should have taken much more possession. Basically, it did not help us to be one player more because we did not take control of the ball.”
The 42-year-old also defended her tactical approach, rejecting suggestions that Zambia struggled to adapt after the red card.
“We played a 4-4-2 in the second half, so I don’t know which game you watched,” she said when responding to a question during her post-match press conference.
“We forced the red card because of our good breakthroughs. The issue was that we hit too many long balls instead of building our attacks.”
Häuptle acknowledged Nigeria’s greater squad depth, noting that the Super Falcons’ wealth of internationally based players gives them an edge over most teams on the continent.
“They have a squad of players performing in the highest leagues around the world,” she said.
“We have 10 players abroad and the others are domestic players. That is where you can see a bit of the difference in quality.”
Attention now turns to Malawi, a side Zambia know well after several meetings over the past 18 months.
“We know Malawi very well. They are our neighbours and we have played them three times in the last one-and-a-half years,” Häuptle said.
“We know about their top players, the Chawinga sisters. They have players in France and a very good balance between local and foreign-based players, just like us.”
While acknowledging the pressure facing her side, Häuptle remains confident Zambia have what it takes to extend their tournament.
“Of course we know now we have the pressure to get points, but that is our job,” she said.
“We are very positive about our goal. We know that if we beat Malawi, the chance is high that we will go through because we scored six goals against Egypt.”
For the Copper Queens, the equation is simple. A victory over Malawi will almost certainly secure a place in the knockout stages, while anything less will bring their WAFCON campaign to an early end.
