By MICHAEL MIYOBA
ZAMBIA national women’s team coach Bruce Mwape says he will unveil the final 23-member squad for the FIFA Women’s World Cup after tomorrow’s friendly match against Switzerland.
Switzerland will host the Copper Queens in an international friendly slated for Tissot Arena in Biel.
The two sides will be using the international friendly to prepare for the World Cup where they will compete in Group A and Group C respectively.
Mwape said he will use tomorrow’s game in Biel to assess some of the players who haven’t been given the opportunity to show what they can offer the national team.
“Our mission is that we are preparing for the World Cup so we would like to see more players get involved in these games. In the last game we used the possible team and this time we will try and see if we can look at other players apart from the players who started last time,” Mwape said.
“We are almost getting there. I’m sure in the next three or four days from now we will be able to announce the full squad, especially after the friendly game against Switzerland. I’m sure we will be able to announce the final squad,” he said.
Mwape, who missed the services of the Kazakhstan quartet of Catherine Musonda, Ireen Lungu, Hellen Chanda, and Martha Tembo during the 3-2 defeat to Ireland said he was happy to have a full squad for his final assessment of the players.
“We are happy to have all the 35 players around and what we want now is to see especially those who missed out on the first game and have joined us. This is the right time for us to give them a chance so that they can prove that they deserve to be in the final World Cup squad,” Mwape said.
Zambia will face Spain, Japan, and Costa Rica at the World Cup scheduled to kick off on July 20 in Australia and New Zealand.
And midfielder, Ireen Lungu said the Copper Queens will have to unite and work together to get a win over Switzerland and bounce back from the defeat to Ireland.
Lungu said victory in Biel will motivate the Copper Queens players ahead of their final World Cup preparatory match against Germany on July 7.
