Zambia Under-17 Women’s National Team head coach Carol Kanyemba says she is expecting a tough match against Tanzania in the FIFA Under-17 World Cup qualifiers last year due to the team’s previous meetings.
The Copper Princesses are in Tanzania for the second round, first leg match of the 2025 U-17 Women’s World Cup qualifiers slated for Sunday.
Kanyemba, who made history last year as the first Zambian female coach to lead a national team to a World Cup at any age level, is aiming to qualify the Copper Princesses for the tournament for the second consecutive time.
Speaking before departure, Kanyemba said she’s aware of Tanzania’s potential threat, which will be fueled by the desire to equal what Zambia did in the previous qualifiers.
“I think, regardless of the number of girls that have played Tanzania before, the experience that they’ve gotten over time is something that we can use for this because some girls that never played the first Tanzanian game managed to go to the World Cup and play the games at the World Cup,” she stated.
“Some are still in the team. So I believe with the experience that we’ve gained through the qualifiers, through the COSAFA tournament, and through the World Cup itself, I should believe that we should be able to come up with something that will give us better results.”
On Tanzania being a threat to her team’s aspirations, Kanyemba said, “We know that it’s not going to be easy. It’s not easy beating the same team twice in a period of a year.“
She added, “Tanzania has learned our weaknesses, and because we eliminated them last time, they’re going to come at us stronger. So we need to be very positive and have focus and concentration so that we can pick up maximum points when we go away to make it easier for us when we come back to play our home game.”
