After missing the 2022 Women’s Africa cup of nations (WAFCON) due to failure to meet CAF’s eligibility rules, Zambia women’s national team captain Barbara Banda is set to return in the copper queen’s squad that kicks off their Council of Southern African football associations (COSAFA) women’s championship tomorrow against Namibia.
Banda, who has not played competitive football in the last five months, has said the tournament will be a very good comeback for her after being away for a long time.
I am very happy to be with the team and I am so excited because the morale is very high in camp and everyone is ready for the tournament,
I always want to be on top of the game. According to myself I just have to push hard because I have been out for some games for a long time, I think this is a very good come back for me , I just have to push hard.
She said
Banda last played competitive football for the copper queens at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics against Brazil which saw Zambia lose by a goal to nil to exit the tournament.
In her last appearance against a Cosafa country, she scored a brace to secure victory for Zambia in a friendly match with South Africa in February 2022 prior to the Women’s Africa cup of nations.
Meanwhile, Banda has also revealed that the main target for the copper queens at the 2022 Cosafa cup is to win the tournament as they have never won it before and that it will be a good preparation for the team who are 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup bound.
The main target for the team is to win the Cosafa cup. I think this is our time to win the Cosafa cup. It’s also a good step for the preparation for the world cup. This tournament has to push us to concentrate more on the bigger tournament that is coming ahead of us.
she added
The copper queens have only come close to winning the Cosafa cup when they finished as runners up once up in 2019 they finished as runners up to south Africa who beat them 1-0 to lift the trophy for the seventh time.
They also managed to finish third in 2021 after beating South Africa 4-3 on post-match penalties following a one-all draw.
The Zambian ladies will now look to kick off their campaign at the 2022 Cosafa Women’s Championship on a high with almost all the members of the squad that reached the WAFCON semifinals and qualified to World cup for the first time available for selection this Thursday when they face against Namibia in their group B opener in which they were also drawn against Lesotho and Eswatini.
