WAFCON: Mwape in cloud nine as four-star Zambia shine
Zambia head coach. Bruce Mwape, could not have asked for anything better than a hard-fought 4-1 victory over debutants Togo to seal the group stages in fine fashion at the 2022 TotalEnergies Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
The Copper Queens have shown absolute character so far at the tournament establishing themselves as one of the title contenders early on.
According to Mwape, his side is growing one game at a time and correcting their mistakes by the day as they try to also capitalize on the mistakes of their opponents.
Against Togo, Zambia were in full control of their destiny. At the heart of this control was captain Grace Chanda whose brace came in handy to break the Togo charge that threatened them in the opening minutes of the game.
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15’: Grace Chanda opens the scoring for #TeamZambia
20’: Ireen Lungu doubles the Copper Queens lead
“We played well today. We had Togo where we wanted them to be and we made sure that we execute our game plan. We realized that they chose to push all the way to the halfway line so we made sure to use our runners who were faster than their defenders and that gave us an edge,” the happy Mwape told CAF Online after the game.
Zambia have scored five goals in three games at the tournament equaling hosts Morocco who have also found the back of the net five times in three games.
Mwape further explained that, “We have some young players on the team and we want to continue giving them a chance to express themselves.”
Teenage sensation 18-year old Glory Chilenga Maweta was brought on for Susan Katongo and is expected to grow into the role. For Mwape, this tournament is also about giving an opportunity to the young players to shine.
The Zambian tactician also admitted that now their focus turns to the quarterfinals – a very big moment for their nation and that it is important to deliver.