Copper Queens forward Prisca Chilufya has revealed what was going through her head as she was introduced in Sunday evening’s match against Utah Royals.
Chilufya came off the bench in the 65th minute with the Pride losing 1-0 to Utah and needed only seven minutes to level matters and earn them a draw.
The former Red Arrows forward revealed that she was only thinking and focused on helping the team and putting a smile on the fans’ faces.
Chilufya described the match as tough given that bottom placed Utah Royals had nothing to lose in the match.
“It was a tough game. Going in, I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy game. You know, playing a team that’s like at the bottom of the table, they have nothing to lose. So, they always come at you with everything they have. It wasn’t easy at all. It wasn’t an easy game. But we just look forward to the next task that’s ahead of us and just see how we can get the points that we need,” Chilufya said.
“In my mind, I only had one thought, which was, ‘What can I do to change the faces of the fans? What can I do to give hope to my fellow teammates?’ That was the only thing that was on my mind. I was just thinking, ‘let me do my part.’ But I wanted the opponent to feel that something had changed. So, my focus was just on helping the team and at least giving some hope to the fans so that they keep cheering us on,” she added
“I feel like we did very well towards the end of the game. I think we did a lot that we were supposed to do in the first half, just putting pressure on them. So, I didn’t feel any kind of pressure from the opponents, especially when I went in because we had more control of the game. I think we had more rhythm than the opponent. It’s just unfortunate that we only had one goal.”
The visitors took the lead just four minutes into the match, Japanese superstar Mina Tanaka with a brilliant long range strike catching Anna Morehouse off her line to put Utah Royals in the lead.
Chilufya levelled matters in the 72nd minute, notching her second of the season and her first at home with a close range finish off a Simone Jackson assist.
Chilufya’s performance earned her the Heineken star of the match, her first since joining Orlando Pride from Mexican side Juarez.
