Zambia National Women team coach Bruce Mwape has declared the Copper Queens ready for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics qualifier match against Zimbabwe which will be played tomorrow in Lusaka.
The Copper Queens boss told the ZamFoot Crew that the team was in a clean bill of health, stressing that the team was injury-free ahead of tomorrow’s encounter against the neighbors.
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“So far so good, we haven’t got injuries. We have been training for one week just preparing for the qualifier match. The team is ready and we have actually played Zimbabwe several times, we know them in and out,” Mwape said.
Mwape said that the preparations have been going on well since the team entered camp in readiness for the encounter slated for Nkoloma Stadium.
The neighboring countries have met on several occasions including in the AWCON qualifiers were Zambia prevailed to qualify to the 2018 edition of the competition. However, Mwape has challenged the Queens to take the match against Zimbabwe seriously in tomorrow’s match.
“It is not actually the first time, the last game that we played them last year in the Africa Cup qualifier, where we managed to qualify. We beat them 2-1 in their home ground. It is not a weak side, Zimbabwe is a good team, it is just a matter of us being serious,” Mwape said.
The Copper Queens squad was boosted by the inclusion of Kazakhastan based duo of Rachel Kundananji and Misozi Zulu, who plays for BIIK Kazygurt. Mwape said he was delighted to see the two players quickly fitting in with the rest of the squad that was participating in the COSAFA Women’s Championships in South Africa.
“They (Misozi and Rachel) have been with the team since last year since we started rebuilding after the suspension of several other players and these are players which started the new team, which is playing in this competition. It hasn’t been long since they left the country, they’re able to fit. They know our system very well,” Mwape said.
Spain based National team striker Barbara Banda has been ruled out of tomorrow’s encounter with an injury and Mwape said that the team will miss the services of the striker. Barbara Banda was on the scoresheet when the two teams met in the AWCON qualifiers last year.
“Barbara we will miss her, even when we played Zimbabwe, she is the one who scored the winning goal,” revealed Mwape.
The Copper Queens coach has thanked the fans for the positive support they have shown to the team since their participation during the 2019 COSAFA Championship and has called upon the fans to turn out in numbers at the Nkoloma Stadium.
“They have been supporting us and have made the team grow from where it was to what it is now. I remember when we were coming from COSAFA all the comments were positive, people were interested and most of them watched the games. I can only appeal to them to come in numbers,” Mwape said.
The Copper Queens will tomorrow take on Zimbabwe in a Tokyo 2020 Olympics Qualifier match at Nkoloma Stadium. The match will kick-off at 15:00Hrs
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