THE Copper Queen’s little sisters yesterday bagged their second win in the COSAFA Under 20 Women’s Championship after they beat hosts, South Africa in a fair three goals to nil game.
The Copper Princesses played their second game at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa, a day after beating Lesotho, nine goals to nil in the same tournament.
The game that began tough for both sides almost promised to be goalless until the second half when Ruth Muwowo broke the deadlock with a powerful long-range strike goal in the 62’ minute.
And after a quiet but sweaty 20 minutes of football after that, Saliya Mwanza fired a second bullet after a net breaking goal in the 83’minute that saw Zambia leading with two goals to non.
South Africa made it easy for the young Copper Queens to increase the goal tally of the match after they committed a foul in the penalty area and Jessy Zulu made no mistake giving the host a third dose of torment in the 90th minute.
The match ended 3-0, Zambia recording with Copper Princesses’ captain Mary Mbewe walking away with the player of the match award.
Mbewe shared that the girls were cautioned not to underrate any team in the competition, as they are all tough.
The players were told to believe in each other’s capabilities and potential.
“We worked together as a team and we are happy. We did not underrate South Africa. The coach told us to work hard and work as a team because we were aware that the game would be hard,” Mbewe said.
“I’m grateful to those who loved my performance, as a captain it was my first time, so I had to give it my best,” said Mbewe.
The girls have two clean sheets, 12 goals in two matches at the tournament as the face Botswana on Friday around 12:00, Central African Time (CAT).
By Buumba Mwitumwa
Kalemba November 21, 2024
