The Zambia Women’s National Team on Tuesday suffered another heavy defeat at the hands of South Korea concluding their April FIFA Women’s window with a 10-2 goal aggregate in two games.
Brighton and Hove Albion forward Lee Geummin scored a hat-trick that involved two penalties and a well taken strike while legend Park Eunseon chipped in with a brace.
The performance was below par to say the least with mostly uncoordinated team play and a lot of individual errors and lack of positional discipline.
The ZamFoot Crew now looks at the individual performances of every player in the Tuesday game.
GK- CATHERINE MUSONDA – 2.5
Catherine Musonda was again a cause for concern having made a few blunders in the 5-2 loss.
The Indeni Roses goal minder was again making wrong judgement calls, failing to command her defence easily for the second goal.
Every time the ball was anywhere near her goal it was a cause for worry and one wonders why the technical bench did not give the third choice goalkeeper Eunice ‘Toaster’ Sakala a chance to also play.
RB- MARY MULENGA -3
The birthday girl had a fair game when she came on Friday but when she started on Tuesday she was mostly a shadow of herself.
She made the initial mistake for the opening goal after her positioning allowed South Korea a chance before Barbra Banda caused a penalty.
Also offered very little going forward with uninspiring deliveries.
LB- MARTHA TEMBO -3.5
Martha Tembo has not been at her best for this window and could be seen in her positioning.
Her not playing competitive games as the Kazakhstan league is yet to kick off has not really helped matters. She was however withdrawn at half time with an injury, get well soon.
CB- PAULINE ZULU – 3
The Elite Ladies defender again struggled with her positional discipline leading to South Korea getting a number of chances.
Her partnership with Agness Musesa has been a disaster and major cause for concern.
The duo decided to have a rest defence of a straight line and everytime South Korea broke their poorly planned high line they were both beaten at once.
However to be fair to her this is only her fourth or so game for the Senior Women’s National Team and with more game time she will only get better.
CB – AGNES MUSESA – 3
The Green Buffaloes defender was very shaky and her partnership with Pauline Zulu did not work out clearly.
With all her experience, Musesa failed to come to the party and played a role in most of the goals the team conceded with her poor positioning.
The absence of the injured Lushomo Mweemba was surely felt at the heart of defence.
DMF – MARY WILOMBE – 4
Mary Wilombe started the game after replacing Ireen Lungu in the midfield.
The Red Arrows midfielder was also uninspiring despite looking a bit solid, most of her passes were back passes and offered very little going forward.
Also failed to properly protect the struggling back four.
CM – BARBRA BANDA – 5
The captain was deployed in midfield to try and solve the physicality problem.
The China based player was hardworking and found herself everywhere but could not help matters much.
She also set up Ochumba Oseke Lubanji with a very good chance early in the first half but the Red Arrows forward could only take a tame shot.
She was also responsible for conceding a penalty when she could have avoided making contact with the South Korea forward.
RMF – RACHEL NACHULA – 2.5
The big surprise was seeing the Zaragoza CFF player start the match after having a poor game on Friday.
She was simply a passenger in the match and did not help the team in any way and was substituted early just shortly after the half hour mark.
LMF- RACHEL KUNDANANJI-6.5
The Madrid CFF forward was Zambia’s best player on the day and tried to help the team the best way possible.
Kundananji made a number of good forward runs but the support and help was not sufficient.
She looked hungry for a result and pushed hard but unfortunately it didn’t work out.
AMF- GRACE CHANDA- 4
Grace Chanda was another player who did not show up to the party.
The Spain based forward failed to replicate her form at the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations which saw her get a top three nomination for the CAF Women’s player of the year award.
Chanda only managed to show flashes of her brilliance but it was not enough unfortunately.
CF- OCHUMBA OSEKE LUBANJI-4
The lanky forward did well to hold the ball upfront which missed in the first game on Friday.
The Red Arrows forward however missed a golden opportunity in the 13th minute after being put through on goal by skipper Barbra Banda.
She also went down easily in the second half when staying up could have given her an opportunity to connect with a nice cross and maybe pull a goal back for the Copper Queens.
SUBSTITUTES
HELLEN CHANDA -5
A fair afternoon for the former Red Arrows and Green Buffaloes player. She was surely an upgrade on Nachula on the day.
She provided some fresh energy and worked hard for the team but did not help much upfront leaving Ochumba isolated.
JUDITH SOKO – 5
The youngster came on for her second match having made her debut at the COSAFA Women’s Championship last year and put in a good shift.
Looked comfortable on the ball and had positional awareness, surely the 18-year-old has a bright future and just needs a lot more exposure.
SUSAN BANDA – NIL
THE TECHNICAL BENCH – 2.5
The technical bench performed very poorly from a wrong line up to failure to read the game.
The decision to play the high line was a bad idea but the failure to correct that was an even worse idea.
They completely failed to read the game and make the necessary changes to help the team.
Strengthen and sharpen the girls by making them play more tough international friendlies and at times with boys for physicals. Their training should be more intense and extraordinary. For now, at least, they are preparing us not to develop BP by expecting too much during the world cup
They don’t need more international games. They need to play many high tempo local matches with another All Stars Women team. In this way the technical bench can know which players in Zambia are the best for each position
Look at the KOREAN woman