Scorchers coach Lovemore Fazili says his charges will this afternoon continue from where they left last year when they face Zambia’s Copper Queens in the semi-finals of the Cosafa Women’s Championship at Wolfson Stadium in Gqeberha, South Africa.
The Malawi Women’s National Football Team last year beat Zambia 2-1 to lift the regional trophy.
There will be no love lost as the defending champions aim at their second consecutive title, with Fazili maintaining the spine of the squad that ended Zambia’s dominance.
In a pre-match interview, Fazili said though the semi-final will be a whole different ball game, history will be repeated.
yesterday
“We have done it before and we will continue from where we left off last time, when we beat them to win the title,” he said.
Fazili is banking on usual campaigners goalkeeper Mercy Sikelo, defenders Rose Alufandika, Patricia Nyirenda and Bernadetta Mkandawire, midfielders Asimenye Simwaka, Leticia Chinyamula and strikers Vanessa Chikupila, Mary Chavinda as well Democratic Republic of Congo-based Sabina Thom, who scored in the 2-1 victory over Zambia in last year’s final.
Zambia, on the other hand, have brought a relatively new squad with just five; namely, Regina Chanda, Evelyne Katongo, Pauline Zulu, Esther Mushota and Natasha Nanyangwe retained.
The Scorchers will have to look out for debutants Fridah Mukoma, Charity Mubanga, Lungowe Namasiku, Regina Chanda and Ochumba Lubanji, who are behind Zambia’s good run at this year’s tourney.
But Fazili said if the players follow his game plan, they should sail through to the final without breaking sweat.
He said: “We are well prepared; we are ready for the game. The morale itself is just very high in the camp. It’s just a matter of the players being focused.”
However, breaking the Zambians, whose squad boasts of players that have appeared at Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, Olympics and Women’s Fifa World Cup, will not be easy. A defiant Fazili brushed this aside.
He said: “Football is football, whether the other team has been to Afcon or World Cup. Determination of the players is what matters. They have to be ready and very strong for the game tomorrow. They just need to have self-confidence.”
Fazili said having spied on the Copper Queens at the tournament, there is nothing out of the ordinary about them.
He said: “We went to watch their game against Comoros yesterday [Tuesday]. They are not any different from us in terms of style. So, we are not really afraid of them.”
On his part, Copper Queens coach Florence Mwila, who was also in charge of the team last year, said she was excited to be paired against Malawi again.
She said: “It’s good that they’ve given us Malawi again. It’s like a repeat of last year’s final. That is something that we really were looking forward to.”
However, she admitted that the match will be tough and that both sides will be under pressure.
Said Mwila: “The pressure is there because we know how strong the team is. But then that doesn’t let us put our guard down. We also have prepared to go and withstand that pressure.
“So the girls are ready. We are prepared for it. We’re going into the game knowing that we’re playing a tough team, we will not underrate them. We will not relax as well because they are tough.
“We will also give them a tough game and we are prepared
