On Monday, Zesco Ndola Girls will battle it against host side, Gaborone United Ladies in the CAF Women’s Champions League COSAFA Qualifier clash for a place in the semi finals.
Last year during the same competition, Gaborone United Ladies defeated the Zambian side to win the regional title.
The Zambian champions secured a place in the last four after edging Lesotho Defence Force 1-0 through Eneless Phiri’s decisive goal, while defending champions Gaborone United booked their semifinal spot with a similar score over Herentals Queens.
The result sets up a repeat of last year’s final, when Gaborone United defeated Zesco Ndola Girls on penalties after a 1-1 draw.
However, Zesco Ndola Girls coach Florence Mwila says her team will not allow memories of that defeat to influence their approach to the latest meeting.
“It’s not revenge. Last year’s game was different,, and this year’s game, this is another year, so we can’t say revenge,” Mwila said after the victory over Lesotho Defence Force.
“It’s important; it’s good that we have met them again. So we approach the game as it comes, and we just have to prepare ourselves accordingly because they are not an easy side either.”
Mwila said Zesco Ndola Girls remain determined to finish the group stage strongly despite already securing qualification for the semifinals.
“We don’t want to relax because we’ve qualified, but we want to go all the way and get maximum points in all the games that we’re going to play in the group stage,” she said.
“We don’t want to relax” – Mwila.
Zesco Ndola Girls had two goals disallowed during the contest but continued to push for the breakthrough, eventually getting the decisive goal through Phiri.
“The win was very important. We knew we were going to face a tough side” Mwila said.
“We kept encouraging them, and they fought, and then we got the most important goal that we needed to qualify for the next round.”
While pleased with the result, Mwila acknowledged that her side still has areas to improve, particularly in breaking down teams that sit deep.
She said Zesco had identified before the match that Lesotho Defence Force would adopt a low-block approach and instructed her players to use the width of the pitch to stretch the defense.
However, she felt the team did not consistently execute that plan.
“Before we even approached this game, we knew that they play a low block and so we told them that for us to just destabilize, we needed to play wide,” she said.
With Gaborone United now standing between Zesco and a perfect group-stage finish, Mwila is refusing to look too far ahead or concern herself with potential semifinal opponents.
Asked whether Zesco would consider the permutations in Group B, where Mamelodi Sundowns are leading and could potentially provide another semifinal meeting, Mwila said her focus was simply on winning their own group.
“So our focus is to just hope to finish first in this group and, focus on the next game, maximum points, which is, very important that we need.”
READ ALSO : Kanyemba reacts to CAF’s plan to introduce U-17 WAFCON tournament.
