Zambia U17 Women’s National Team head coach Carol Kanyemba says the Copper Princesses need to defend their COSAFA crown.
Kanyemba believes that despite having a mostly new squad from the one that won the competition last year the players have what it takes to defend the title.
She is however aware of the competition ahead with everyone set on betting the defending Champions.
Zambia were ruthless last year with huge score lines including a 15-0 win in the final and Kanyemba wants to guard against complacency by psyching the players.
“It’s good though it comes with a lot of pressure being the defending champions, everyone wants to beat the Champions. It’s easier to be a champion but very difficult to get there. We pray that we psych our girls not to be complacent, not to be comfortable with the results we got last year but to take every game seriously and differently because we need to defend this trophy regardless of how many players are new because we believe everyone has the ability to do what it takes,” she said.
Captain Mercy Chipasula who was the top goalscorer at last year’s showpiece with 13 goals, Lweendo Hanongo, Hellen Sichamba, Masela Sekeseke, Victoria Mbali, and Loveness Chingwele will miss the tournament but will be key in Zambia’s U17 World Cup squad.
The six players are not eligible for the regional showpiece but will be back for the World Cup set for October.
Natasha Nkaka will miss due to an injury while Aston Villa youth midfielder Jessica Choolwe Johnson has been excused to attend to her final year school commitments.
Despite the big name absentees, Kanyemba believes this is an opportunity to expose more talent and give chances to players who have not had enough game time.
“It’s coming earlier than expected, we usually have it in December, but it’s here now and we expected to go and defend our trophy,” she said.
“We don’t have most of the players that we had last year because most of them are turning 17 years old this year and they are not eligible. This is a chance for us to expose new talent and for other girls who did not have game time to show what they have, so it’s a good platform for everyone to develop their talent.”
“Definitely at the U17 World Cup requires 17, 16 and 15 whilst COSAFA is 16 and below so the ones that played the World Cup qualifiers are all eligible to play at the tournament but for the COSAFA those turning 17 are not eligible but it is good because it will help us have a team for next year even for the World Cup qualifiers because the girls who will showcase the talent at the COSAFA will stand a better chance to be part of the team that will play the qualifiers for the World Cup next year,” she added.
The Copper Princesses will start their COSAFA U17 Women’s Championship title defense this Saturday against Mozambique.
Zambia and Mozambique will clash in Group B at the Hage Geingob Stadium in the opening game of the COSAFA Under-17 Girls’ Championship to be played in Windhoek, Namibia from May 10-17.
