By Daily Revelation Reporter
ZAMBIA Women’s assistant coach Florence Mwila has described yesterday’s 3-1 victory over Angola as a big relief after the defending champions started their COSAFA Championship title defence with a draw last Thursday.
Sunday’s win at Dobsonville Stadium in Johannesburg saw Zambia rebound from their Group A opener on October 5 when they laboured to a 0-0 draw against Mozambique.
Angola on the other hand came in as Group B leaders following a resounding 5-0 win over Comoros on the same date.
“Yes it is a relief to have won and we are headed in the right direction,” Mwila said during the post-match conference.
“This was part of the game plan. The 3 points are what we needed and in today’s match, the girls worked according to our plan. But we had a lot of chances that we wasted and could have scored more goals.
“We knew Angola was going to come in with force having come from a win, we knew it wasn’t going to be an easy game.”
The match was a dress rehearsal for the two sides’ 2024 WAFCON final round qualifier in late November that will see Zambia travel to Luanda for the first leg when the Copper Queens will also have their foreign arsenal available that is absent at the COSAFA.
Despite the professional’s COSAFA Cup absence, Zambia’s home-based, second-string side showed they were still ‘the haves’ in the technical superiority over the ‘have-nots’ Angola who had flattered in that 5-0 win over Comoros on match day one to go top of Group B on October 5.
Zambia rightfully took the lead in the 3rd minute when Sarah Jere punished Rita Jose for some poor goalkeeping and pounced on the ball to score on the rebound after the latter failed to deal with Esther Siamfunko’s free kick.
Defender Jackline Nkole added Zambia’s second with a goal of the tournament candidate when she unleashed a booming long-range effort from halfway inside Angola’s area.
But Zambia suffered a setback in the last four minutes of the second half when they lost key midfielder Natasha Nayangwe with an injury and she was replaced in the 43rd minute by Maylan Mulenga.
The second half was littered with clear chances for Zambia starting in the 49th minute when Agness Phiri saw her long-range free kick come off the beam.
Evarine Katongo then saw her close-range attempt parried by Jose.
Jose had little time to take her breath after making that save and escaped with a minor dent after she collided with the upright to keep out Susan Banda’s free-kick.
Then Fridah Kabwe who came on in the 64th minute for Agness Phiri also had a go in the 77th minute but Jose was again on hand to save Angola.
But Jose was finally breached in the 85th minute when Jere completed her brace with a close-range finish just two minutes after the Angola goalkeeper denied her from a similar situation.
However, Zambia conceded their first goal of the tournament in stoppage time Sara Luvunga’s volley from halfway inside the defending champions’ area was deflected in by goalkeeper Letisha Lungu.
Zambia must now ensure they beat Comoros on October 10 at UJ Stadium in Johannesburg in another 12h00 kickoff and keep their fingers crossed with the hope that they have done enough to advance to the semifinals.
“We just need to plan to win that game so that we don’t come out with calculations,” Mwila warned.
Mozambique was by press time yesterday in action against Comoros.
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