By Kalumiana Kalumiana
ZESCO Ndola Girls FC coach Florence Mwila has described beating 2026 COSAFA zone CAF Women's Champions League tournament qualifiers hosts Gaborone United 2-0 on Monday night to finish top of Group A a sweet 3 points and a top notch performance.
Both Gaborone and Zesco went into their final Group A match already secured their semifinals places with a match to spare, but with the objective of who will finish top to avoid Group B leaders and two-time African champions Mamelodi Sundowns in the semifinals.
The fixture was also a grudge match after Gaborone beat Zesco in the 2025 COSAFA final in Johannesburg to qualify for the CAF Women's Champions League tournament in Morocco.
Mwila said in a post-match interview in Gaborone that Zesco is ready for any team in tomorrow's semifinals.“It is a sweet three points.
Like in the previous press conferences, it’s not revenge. We are here to play the game. Last year was different, and definitely the approach will be different this time.
We knew we were facing a tough opponent, and, looking at the history, we knew what was at stake.
We knew that we needed to approach the game in a different way than we approached the previous games, and I am happy that we played our game today,” Mwila said.
Gaborone yet again proved to be a difficult opponent for Zesco, and the two goals scored early in the first half and late in the second period were testament to a challenge on their hands against the defending COSAFA women's club champions.
Charity Mubanga put Zesco ahead in the 1st minute when she headed in a corner from Eneless Phiri.
Phiri was later denied twice; firstly, her 39th minute attempt was cleared off the line and then in the 73rd minute, Gaborone goalkeeper Tlamelo Pheresi kept out the Zambia international strikers effort.Gaborone then nearly equalised in the 85th minute, but Zesco goalkeeper Annie Namonje kept out Keitumetse Dithebe's close-range attempt.
There was relief for Zesco in the 88th minute when Avell Chitundu scored her sides' second goal to put some distance between them and Gaborone.
“We played split passes and combination play, and those are things we would have loved to see in the previous games that we played. The game was so tactical. It was a high-intensity match, and kudos to the girls; they really accounted for themselves very well. The character was top-notch," Mwila said.“There is no preferring any team(in the semifinals) and we play any team that comes. We are prepared. This is a tournament. We will meet any opponent, so we have to be prepared. We can’t say we want to play against this team. We play any team that comes.”While Gaborone will face Mamelodi Sundowns, who lead Group B with a robust goal advantage with a game to spare on 6 points, Zesco will face either Silver Strikers of Malawi or Costa do Sol of Mozambique.Costa do Sol and Silver Strikers have 3 points and the former were by press time in action against Sundowns while the latter played bottom of the table Nsingizini Hotspurs from Eswatini who were on zero points.
