By Kalumiana Kalumiana
Saturday is a massive day for Zambia women’s national team coach Nora Hauptle when she finally makes her competitive debut when they face hosts Morocco in the opening game of the 2025 WAFCON at Stade Olympique in Rabat.
Kickoff of the Group A fixture and the tournament curtain-raiser is at 22h00.
The Swiss-born coach replaced Bruce Mwape in January and has some big boots to fill considering the latter’s success rate that included a third place finish during the 2022 WAFCON which was also held in Morocco.
Furthermore, Hauptle has not been tested competitively and all her 6 games in charge have been friendlies.
Two wins, a draw and three defeats are Hauptle’s current record heading into tomorrow’s key match against the 2022 WAFCON runners-up.
Defender Margret Belemu who is heading for a third WAFCON and now a veteran with FIFA Women’s World Cup and Olympic experience said Zambia are tuned into getting the 3 points on Saturday despite the obvious factors surrounding the opening game.
“We are taking our first game against Morocco very seriously. It’s never easy playing against a host team because of the crowd, the pressure and the atmosphere. But we are preparing well mentally and tactically. We know the importance of a strong start and we respect our opponents. We are not underrating them but we also believe in our abilities and we’ll give everything to top the group because that’s our main objective as we start the tournament to top the group and qualify for the next round. From there anything can happen,” Belemu said.
But unlike Morocco who have played 3 official pre-tournament friendlies since entering camp in mid-June, Zambia has restricted their preparations to closed-door training games.
Zambia’s last official friendlies were a month ago away in Pretoria in a Three- Nations tournament when they drew 1-1 with Botswana on May 31 and lost 2-0 to hosts South Africa on June 3.
Morocco on the other hand beat Cape Verde 1-0, Malawi 4-2 and Tanzania 4-0 during the last fortnight they have been in camp.
Just how much that will be a factor or becomes a highlighted issue if things don’t go to plan for Zambia will be known after full-time on Saturday.
However, Zambia enjoys a good record over Morocco with 3 wins and 1 defeat.
That loss came in April 2024 in the last qualifying stage for the 2024 Olympics when Zambia lost 2-1 in the first leg in Ndola but overturned that loss to win 2-0 away in Rabat to qualify for the Paris Games.
Meanwhile, the spotlight will critically be on 2024 CAF and BBC Women’s Player of the Year Barbra Banda to lead Zambia to a positive result.
Strangely, it will mark Banda’s first WAFCON game after injury at the 2018 Ghana tournament saw her watch from the bench while in 2022 she missed out due to a CAF ban they cited over medical reasons.
