CAFWCL COSAFA Qualifiers: Herentals Queens coach faults midfield after loss

Herentals Queens coach, Garthly Chipuka, says her Zimbabwean team failed to stick to the game-plan leading to their 2-0 loss to Costa do Sol at the CAF Women’s Champions League: COSAFA Qualifiers on Saturday.

The Mozambican champions got the better of their Zimbabwean opponents in the opening match of Group C at UJ AW Muller Stadium in Johannesburg.

The coach said she had drilled her charges to have more numbers in attack, but they were more defensive.

“We didn’t do it according to our plan,” Chipuka told COSAFA media. “During our preparations, we had a lot of focus on precision in front of the goal. We had worked to make sure that we were more precisive, but this did not happen.”

“Chances were created but we failed to convert them. Our midfield let us down a bit because they were more defensive. They were not joining the attack so that we could have numerical advantage.”

The coach added: “We failed to contain the centre-back of our opponent that led to the Costa do Sol to have an upper hand especially in midfield and they managed to get the goals.”

Costa do Sol took the lead from a counterattack on the left where the ball was played across the goal mouth in the 29th minute for Lucia to tap in. Eunencia Machava cushioned the lead for the Mozambicans with a long-range stunner to make it 2-0 shortly after the break.

The regional qualifiers started on Friday when Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies and ZESCO Ndola Ladies registered 3-0 victories over Malawi’s Ntopwa Ladies and Beauties FC of Namibia respectively.

Sundowns will now take on ZESCO Ndola Ladies on Sunday while Ntopwa will seek to bounce back when they face Beauties FC from Namibia on Sunday.