Mwape wants to take Copper Queens to first World Cup

by Staff Reporter

Wednesday Jun 29, 2022. 11:17

Ahead of the start of the 2022 Africa Women Cup of Nations (WAFCON) this weekend, Zambia head coach Bruce Mwape says he is determined to take the Copper Queens to their first Women’s World Cup.

This year’s WAFCON in Morocco will not only offer up continental glory, but also serve as a qualification competition for next year’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

The four WAFCON semifinalists will earn an automatic spot at the global tournament, while two further teams will advance into an inter-confederation playoff competition.

Zambia’s best WAFCON showing was a quarterfinal appearance way back in 1995, and they have never qualified for the Women’s World Cup.

Under Mwape, however, the Copper Queens have shown a strong improvement, qualifying for two successive WAFCONs and appearing at the 2020 Olympic Games in between. The tactician now wants to lead Zambia to their first World Cup finals – for either men or women.

“Qualifying to the World Cup is my area of concentration because it will be a record for me to qualify the team to the World Cup and all I can say is we are working as a team and what we all want is to qualify to the World Cup and the history will be made like we did when we qualified to the Olympics,” Mwape said in an interview with the FAZ media team, as quoted by Zambian Football.

“We want to qualify to the World, it’s our P1 [main priority], the competition in the team is stiff, especially in midfield and on the wingbacks, there is a lot of competition there because anybody can start the games and deliver.”

He added, “Going to the World Cup is not easy, it is very difficult, we just need to work hard because if we relax then we won’t have it easy because the teams we are playing against are also fighting to go to the World Cup, so it is a question of being serious and focus on the games that we will be playing.”

Zambia, placed in Group B, will open their WAFCON campaign with a match against Cameroon in Casablanca on Sunday 3 July, followed by clashes with Tunisia and Togo on July 6 and 9 respectively.