THE Zambia Under-20 Women’s National Team has kicked off its 2024 COSAFA championship with a bang by thrashing Lesotho 9-0 at the University of Johannesburg Stadium in South Africa.
Braces from Pumulo Lubasi, Bwalya Chileshe and Ruth Muwowo and goals apiece from Saliya Mwanza, Mary Mbewe and substitute Jessy Zulu gifted Charles Haluboono’s Copper Princes victory to ensure a perfect start for Zambia.
The gaffer said he was impressed with the performance of the Copper Princesses, who accounted for themselves well in the opening fixture of their Cosafa tournament.
Haluboono said Zambia was able outplay Lesotho because most his players had been active in the National Women’s Super League and some had just taken part in the Under-17 World Cup.
“Our players have been active and that really helped us because most of them are coming from the Under-17 World Cup and so we had an upper hand in terms of play but we need to coordinate more going into the remaining games. We are playing South Africa in our next game so their is no time to work on our mistakes but it will be done verbally, we need to coordinate more as a team,” said Haluboono.
Haluboono said the Copper Princesses were determined to emulate the senior women’s team, which scooped the regional crown two weeks ago in South Africa.
Meanwhile, Lesotho Under-20 Women’s National Team coach Elizabeth Yelimala said her girls struggled to perform against Zambia because they lacked exposure as many were picked from schools.
Yelimala however noted that Lesotho would not lose hope and continue to fight going into the next three matches.
“We have a lot of positives picked from the game against Zambia. Though we were loosing we would still try to penetrate, we tried to fight to get that one goal though we didn’t get it but in the last 20 minutes, we conceded but we kept pushing. Now we know very well how this tournament is. We have tried one of the best in the competition therefore we will fight in the next three games,” said Yelimala.
Lubasi put Zambia ahead with a two minutes brace in the 11th and 12th minute while Saliya Mwanza made it 3-0 in the 14th minute after benefiting from Namute Chileshe’s assist.
Two minutes before the half hour mark, Chileshe got on the scoresheet after slotting Bupe Banda’s pass into the back of the net.
Mary Mbewe made things worse for Lesotho after she grabbed Zambia’s fifth goal in the dying minutes of the first half which ended 5-0.
In the second half, the Copper Princesses continued to torment Lesotho and it didn’t take long before they scored their sixth goal thanks to Chileshe, who was able to grab her brace from a fine pass by Bupe Banda.
As Zambia continued to dominate, Haluboono made a double change, withdrawing Bwalya Chileshe and Pumulo Lubasi for Ruth Muwowo and Mary Mukupa respectively.
It took Ruth Muwowo just five minutes to add her name to the scoresheet following an assist by Theresa Musatila.
Muwowo completed her brace in the 84th minute after benefiting from Zangose Zulu’s delivery.
Jessy Zulu combined well with Edith Phiri before scoring Zambia’s ninth goal.
The Copper Princesses will continue their campaign today with a match against hosts South Africa before facing Botswana and Mozambique in the last two matches.
The Cosafa U-20 Women’s Championship featuring five teams is being played in a round-robing format where the team that will accumulate the most points will lift the regional crown.
