Zambia’s U-17 women’s national team moved a step closer to defending their COSAFA title after a dominant 9-0 win over Mauritius in their second group match at the ongoing COSAFA U17 Championship in Namibia on Tuesday.

The victory sealed Zambia’s place in the semifinals of the competition, having now won both of their two matches without conceding a goal. The Copper Princesses began their campaign with a comfortable 4-0 win over Mozambique before dismantling Mauritius in emphatic fashion.

Despite the commanding scoreline, head coach Carol Kanyemba expressed dissatisfaction with the team’s performance, suggesting her side could have done even better in front of goal.

“We didn’t play a good game, we made lot of wrong decisions,” Kanyemba said after the match. “I think we were in a hasty to get a goal without proper ball movement which really affected us. We could have scored lot of goals if only we were able to pass the ball and shot at the right time.”

The coach’s comments come as Zambia continues to show strength in both attack and defence, scoring 13 goals and keeping back-to-back clean sheets in their two matches so far.

Remain focused- Kanyemba

Looking ahead to the semifinals, Kanyemba called on her players to remain focused and improve their decision-making as the competition enters its decisive phase.

“Going into the semifinals we need to have lot of concentration so that we can win and go to the finals and reclaim our trophy,” she added.

Zambia, who are defending champions, will now wait to face either Botswana or Lesotho in the last four, depending on final group standings. But Kanyemba made it clear that her team is not concerned about who they face next.

“We’ve to play against any team that progresses to that level. We play Botswana or Lesotho, we are prepared for either team. We need to tell the girls the importance of winning this game.”

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