By MICHAEL MIYOBA
COPPER Queens Coach Bruce Mwape has set his eyes on winning the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) title after guiding the national team to its first Women’s FIFA World Cup
The Copper Queens edged Senegal 4-2 on penalties following a 1-1 stalemate in Wednesday night’s gritty quarter final fixture at the ongoing WAFCON in Morocco to become the first African country to qualify for the 2023 World Cup to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.
Hosts Morocco joined the Copper Queens on the night to make it first time also after beating Botswana in the other quarter-final. The Atlas Lionesses
Goalkeeper Hazel Nali was the hero of the day as she saved two penalties and scored the winning spot kick to send Zambia to the semifinals of the WAFCON and an automatic qualification to the World Cup.
The historic achievement cheered Coach Mwape who praised the girls for achieving their objective of qualifying for the World Cup.
“This is what we wanted. If you remember the last time I was here I was talking about our target which was to qualify to the World Cup and we have managed to do that,” Mwape said.
“When we qualified to the Olympics, people thought it was a fluke beating Cameroon. People didn’t believe it even when we came for this tournament, some people asked if we were not afraid of the Lionesses I said we are ready for them and we have managed to get to the semifinals as well as qualifying to the World Cup which is a good thing and it only shows that there is that consistency in the team,” Mwape said.
“Our target was to qualify to the World Cup and we have done that our next step is to now win the cup because we are just remaining with two games.
Mwape said the future was bright for the Copper Queens squad consisting of mostly young players below the age of 23.
Meanwhile, defender Lushomo Mweemba, who was voted as the player of the match hailed her team mates for the historical qualification to the World Cup.
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