Zambia ran riot in the first leg of the 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) qualifier, defeating Angola six-nil in Luanda.
Goals from Lushomo Mwemba, Ireen Lungu, Racheal Kundananji, and Barbra Banda‘s hat-trick were enough to seal a resounding victory for the Copper Queens.
Speaking after the match, Angola’s head coach, Sousa Garcia, said Zambia had better players than his team stating that his country will have to improve their domestic league to compete against top teams on the continent.
“It was not a good result for us; of course, I need to congratulate them [Zambia]. They played very well, and I think they have better players than us. We just need to keep working and improve our local competition [the domestic league].
Garcia also admitted that the defeat ended his team’s campaign in the qualifiers and that they will use the second leg to gain experience.
“It has ended for us; I just need to give experience to my players. We will try to play the way we want to play; of course, it will be very difficult for us but we will try and just keep learning and use this experience to learn more. That’s what we will do in the next game. “
Zambia will host Angola at the Levy Mwanawansa stadium in Ndola for the second leg next Tuesday.
The winner over the two legs will secure qualification for the 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations to be held in Morocco.
