Following their 2-1 defeat to Paraguay in the opening match of the 2025 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, Zambia head coach Carol Kanyemba says her team can shock the world today when they face Japan in their second Group F fixture.

The Copper Princesses sit third in the group without a point, just like New Zealand, who suffered a 3-0 loss to leaders Japan. Zambia must avoid another defeat this evening to keep their hopes of advancing to the next round alive.

Kanyemba remains optimistic that her team can pull off an upset against the Asian giants.

“We have told the girls that they need to pick themselves. We started on a bad note, but we can redeem ourselves as long as we get positive results from this game. Japan, being who they are, if we are committed, we’re united; we can shock the world and get a result that no one expects from us,” Kanyemba said.

Last year, Kanyemba’s side lost all their matches, including a 4-1 defeat to Japan, but the coach believes this encounter will be different as they look to prove their growth at this level.

“We’re going into the game against Japan knowing that Japan is a strong side. We are equally a strong side for us to be here where we are. We played against them last year, but meeting them again this time, we’ll be able to show how much progress we’ve made. If not, we’ll be able to show. But our aim is definitely to be able to show progress from last year’s performance to this year,” she said.

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