Zambia’s journey to glory will be a bit trickier now that star player, Barbra Banda is out of the competition following coach Bruce Mwape’s final squad announcement of the TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
The China based player was earmarked as one of the players who would propel the team to glory and help the side finish the tournament in a better position from the last edition where the team didn’t even make it past the group stages. Her incredible showing at the Tokyo Olympics where she became the first player to score back to back hattricks at the tournament.
“Barbra is one of our best players and she is one of our dependable players but there’s nothing we can do. She’s been sidelined but what we shouldn’t forget is this a team sport. The players that we have should be able to deliver. Barbra is means a lot to the team, we will miss her but we have replacements that can do the work,” says Mwape.
However Mwape can look to other players to help the team reach knockout stages from the seemingly group of death where they will also face Cameroon who they eliminated from the Olympic Games qualifiers.
Grace Chanda gave incredible performances for the side at the 2021 Cosafa Women’s Championship, which saw the side go home with the bronze medal. She found the back of the net three times leading to the fourth place match with South Africa. Her performance saw her earn her a professional contract in Kazakhstan with BIIK Kazykurt.
Right back, Margaret Belemu, who plays in the Chinese Taiping Women’s Super League side for Shanghai Shengli is also one of the players that will set this team alight. Turkey-based midfielder, Misozi Zulu, who will be will be making her second appearance in the competition also has the experience the side needs in order to make it to the next round.
The Copper Queens impressive showing in their maiden Olympics is evident that Mwape’s side is a team for big occasions.