On Friday evening, Zambia defeated Ghana’s Black Queens 1-0 at the Accra Sports Stadium in the first leg of the 2024 Paris Olympics third-round qualifier.
Racheal Kundananji scored the game’s only goal in the 19th minute, giving the Copper Queens a vital away win.
Following an evenly contested first half, Ghana went into the second half aiming to turn the game around, controlling ball possession. They continued to apply pressure in search of an equalizer, but the Zambian defence, commanded by Lushomo Mwemba and Pauline Zulu, held strong.
Goalkeeper, Catherin Musonda was also put to task on several occasions as she was forced to make crucial saves.
The Copper Queens’ midfield was undoubtedly outplayed by the Ghanaians, prompting Bruce Mwape to replace veterans Racheal Nachula and Kabange Mupopo with Avell Chitundu and Fridah Kabwe, who offered some solidity after 66 minutes.
This has given Ghana’s coach, Nora Hauptle, confidence that her side can beat Zambia away in Ndola on Wednesday in the second leg.
“Possession wise, we just killed them today, to be honest,” she said after the match. ” I am so convinced that when we put one goal in Zambia, we will explode and go straight to the Olympics.”
The Swiss continued: “I am proud of our performance, but I am very sad that the result didn’t follow the performance.”
The victor of the Zambia-Ghana tie will face either Morocco or Tunisia, whose match finished 2-1 in favour of the former on Friday.
Ghana is attempting to qualify for the Olympics for the first time in its history, while the Copper Queens are seeking for back-to-back qualification after serving as Africa’s lone representatives at the 2020 Tokyo edition in 2021.
