Zambia U17 Women’s National Team coach Carol Kanyemba says high-profile international friendlies will be crucial in preparing the Copper Princesses for the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco.
Kanyemba says her side is currently around 60 percent ready, with the remaining assessment dependent on the quality of opposition they face before the tournament.
The Copper Princesses will face China in an international friendly on 9 October, with the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) also working to arrange additional matches ahead of their departure for Morocco.
“I can say we are 60 percent (ready) because most of it has to come from the high-profile friendlies that we will play; that’s when we will be able to know how ready we are. We’ve just trained locally alone,” Kanyemba told FAZ Media.
The coach thanked FAZ for arranging the China fixture and expressed hope that further matches against strong opposition will be secured.
Kanyemba believes such games will provide a more accurate measure of the team’s progress while exposing the players to the intensity and quality they can expect at the World Cup.
“We can only know how much the girls are able to deliver if we have competition that is high level compared to what we have been subjected to,” she said.
“We will be able to know once we play the friendly games; otherwise, we have come up with the final list.”
Kanyemba wants players to experience World Cup intensity
Kanyemba says the current squad lacks the experience of last year’s team, with most of those players having since graduated from the U17 level.
That makes the international friendlies even more important, as the coach wants as many players as possible to experience the demands of playing against top-level opposition before the tournament begins.
“So if we prepare better than we did last year; last year we played one friendly game. The Association can organise more than one friendly game for us to be able to give a number of players a feel of the World Cup before we go to the tournament itself.”
FAZ General Secretary Charles Chakatazya has confirmed that the association is also in discussions with a South American team and another European side over additional pre-tournament friendlies.
The Copper Princesses will compete in Group D at the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup, where they will face Japan, France and Venezuela.
The tournament will be staged in Morocco from 17 October to 7 November.
