COSAFA Women’s Championship: Zambia will not underrate Eswatini – Haalubono

Zambia women’s national team assistant coach Charles Haalubono says the Copper Queens will not underrate Eswatini in their final Group B match at the COSAFA Women’s Championship in Polokwane, South Africa on Tuesday.

Speaking ahead of the match against Eswatini which will be played at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium, Haalubono said Zambia will not make the mistake of underrating their opponents, who drew 1-1 against Botswana yesterday.

Haalubono noted Eswatini is a formidable opponent, which is why they are at the tournament.

Zambia must respect Eswatini

“The worst mistake a coach can make is to underrate any opponent. It’s not a good thing. We must respect them; that’s why they are at this competition. They are a good team and they are here to compete,” said Haalubono.

Haalubono admitted Zambia’s failure to be clinical in the final third in yesterday’s game against Zimbabwe, which saw the two neighbouring countries play to a scoreless draw.

The Green Buffaloes Women’s team gaffer said the technical bench has worked on sharpening the team’s finishing.

“Today, we try to work on our finishing and also see how we can penetrate and exploit the wings so that we can get more goals. It is a disappointing result for Zimbabwe game but the good part is that we created chances. The only thing we are telling our players is to be more clinical at finishing,” he added.

He acknowledged the team’s shortcomings in midfield, which he said led to a lack of creativity.

“We need to improve on our joining in the midfield. The joining of our midfielders was a bit slow; so, we have to work on that.”

Haalubono hints at making changes to starting XI

Haalubono has hinted at ringing changes ahead of the Eswatini tie, adding there will be some tactical adjustments to the team.

“The main reason why we are here is to assess players and the team in terms of performance and team coordination; so, we have to give a chance to all the players. We are going to make changes to give opportunity to all the players,” the coach explained.

Meanwhile, Haalubono disclosed there are injury concerns in camp after Eneless Phiri and Memory Nthala picked up knocks in the game against Zimbabwe.

The coach also said Rhodah Chileshe has started light training following her injury sustained during training last week. Striker Sampa Chisanga said although the team did not win against Zimbabwe, she is hopeful it will perform better against Eswatini.

Chisanga said the team will be more focused in tomorrow’s (Tuesday) game and raise the tempo to get the best result.

“Our performance wasn’t so well but I still have hope; I feel like for the remaining games we need to be more strategic especially being that we are the local players missing our stars so that we can bring the cup home,” said Sampa.

She personally promised to improve her game against Eswatini after admitting she struggled to find her feet in yesterday’s match.

The defending champions trained at the Northern Academy Football/Rugby pitch in Polokwane as preparations stepped up for their decisive Group B fixture.

Curro High School has been the Copper Queens’ training base, but the squad shifted to Northern Academy for a change of surface. Following a 0-0 stalemate with neighbours Zimbabwe at Seshego Stadium, Zambia will be keen to find their cutting edge when they face Eswatini.