In their first match of the 2024 CAF Women’s Champions League | COSAFA Qualifier on Friday, Zambian Champions Green Buffaloes defeated the University of the Western Cape of South Africa 1-0. However, Carol Kanyemba’s side were defeated 1-0 by Herentals Queens of Zimbabwe in the second Group A fixture on Saturday.
The Zimbabweans scored through Polite Mabika in the 60th minute to top Group A with six points, having also defeated Namibia’s Ongos FC in their opener.
Green Buffaloes coach, Kanyemba, attributed the team’s defeat in their second game to the players’ complacency.
“Well, We lost today’s game because of the reaction of my girls. We were always second on the ball. We had a lot of clear chances that would’ve counted into goals and changed the whole perspective of the game. But we couldn’t make use of it because we were waiting for opponents to make a mistake and capitalize on it. But we were always found flatfooted,” Kanyemba stated during a post match press conference. “It’s a thing that we’ve talked about, but our girls failed to come to the party and I feel like the girls underrated this team and that’s why it has costed us so much. So we’ve learned our lessons from this game.”
Kanyemba looks ahead of must win fixture
The Zambian champions will face Ongos FC of Namibia on Monday in their final group game and Kanyemba wants nothing but a win.
“Sometimes a loss in football is good because it makes you realize the mistakes and you get rid of your complacency. So if we had won this game, we would’ve thought everything is easier,” she added. ”But even the girls themselves have to learn from this hard loss and pull their stockens up. Because if we want to come out of this group, we need to win the final game. So we’ve got every reason to win the last game. And we’ve picked up our lessons from this one.”
Meanwhile, the University of the Western Cape also defeated FC Ongos 3-0. That meant, Group A remained open for anyone to grab the top spot and advance to the knockout stage.
BELOW ARE THE GROUP STANDINGS:
| GROUP A | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS |
| Herentals Queens (Zimbabwe) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| Green Buffaloes (Zambia) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3* |
| Univ. of the Western Cape (South Africa) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3* |
| FC Ongos (Namibia) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 6 | -5 | 0 |
| GROUP B | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS |
| Ascent Academy (Malawi) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Gaborone United (Botswana) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| UD de Lichinga (Mozambique) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Young Buffaloes (Eswatini) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 0 |
The overall tournament winner will join Mamelodi Sundowns at the 2014 CAF women’s Champions League.
Sundowns did not compete in the qualifiers since they had already guaranteed their spot in the finals as defending champions.
