FIFA Women’s World Cup debutants Zambia were booted out after suffering two back-to-back 5-0 losses against Japan and Spain respectively.
Coach Bruce Mwape admitted that playing “playing the best teams in the World is not easy.” He, however, stated that he was pleased with his side’s performance against Spain despite the loss.
Meanwhile, Copper Queens skipper Barbra Banda did not hide her disappointment stating “we are really disappointed.”
“In football, there are only three results: you can either lose, win, or draw. It’s just so unfortunate that we didn’t win any of our games,” she said in an interview with FAZ media.
Banda, the first woman in Olympic history to score back-to-back hat tricks at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, has urged Zambians to support the team in the future.
“All we can ask for as a team is for our Zambian supporters to continue supporting us; we are improving every day.”
“Women’s football developing” -Banda says after disappointing World Cup start
Banda believes Women’s football is on the rise in Zambia and everyone should get behind them.
“I think we are developing, looking at where we are coming from; this time around we have played a couple of games at the highest level.”
Zambia’s final game is against Costa Rica on Monday, and Banda hopes for their first-ever victory against a team that has also been eliminated from the competition.
“We are positive we want to get the maximum points in our last game. And we will not relax; we want to get a win.”
Zambia’s leaky defense was extremely generous, conceding ten goals in two matches. On the hand, their attack couldn’t quite find a breakthrough as they are yet to score at the World Cup.
Spain and Japan have qualified for the last 16 and will face off in Wellington to decide the Group C winner.
Zambia and Costa Rica, on the other hand, will battle it out for 3rd and 4th positions.
