By Mubukwanu Kaingu
Ghana coach Nora Hauptle says they are not intimidated by the possibility of Zambian fans filling Levy Mwanawasa tonight and adding that she is actually looking forward to the experience of playing the Copper Queens’ 12th man.
Zambia heads into the 2024 Paris Olympics women’s football tournament, penultimate round, and final leg qualifier with a narrow 1-0 away win over Ghana they recorded on February 23 in Accra.
But Hauptle said during the pre-match press conference in Ndola yesterday that they will build on the second-half momentum from the first leg when they dominated Zambia who had scored the game’s only goal in the 18th minute through Rachael Kundananji.
“I hope that tomorrow it will be a packed stadium. We like a crowd and we hope it will be a big football game for all of us,” Hauptle said.
“We are always adaptable, we have further plans for tomorrow and our approach will be to be steady in the game. We need that and we need to score.
“So you will see on the pitch what our plans are.”
The pressure is also on Ghana to crawl out of a two-match losing run after earlier losing 1-0 away to Namibia last November in their 2024 WAFCON final leg qualifier that saw the Black Queens still qualify 3-2 on aggregate.
Meanwhile, Zambia coach Bruce Mwape remains positive
despite Ghana’s second-half surge last Friday.
“Well, all I can say is that Ghana dominated the second half but it does not mean that we didn’t play. We played well because we were able to contain them,” Mwape said.
“So we didn’t want to open up. What we were trying to avoid is trying not to concede a goal again this time around.”
Mwape said he is happy with Zambia’s collective defending but is demanding Kundananji, Barbra Banda and Rachael Nachula to be very ruthless in the 18h00 kickoff.
“We have also worked on the weaknesses that we identified in that game,” Mwape said.
“We just need to be cautious because the game is not yet over until it’s over. We have played the first 90 minutes away in Ghana.
“But we cannot say that since we are leading 1-0 in the first 90 minutes, we should relax but we should play according to our plan.”
Morocco or Tunisia awaits the overall winner of today’s game in April to decide who goes to the Olympics.
The Atlas Lionesses host Tunisia in Rabat this evening enjoying a 2-1 away first leg win.
