Nora Häuptle discloses that Zambia is ‘very hungry to hunt’ for WAFCON title

Zambia women’s national team, Copper Queens, head coach Nora Häuptle has expressed confidence that her team is ready to begin their Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) 2024 campaign on a strong note when they face hosts Morocco in Saturday’s opening match at the Olympic Stadium in Rabat.

“We arrived very early in Morocco, 10 days ago, in Casablanca, where our pre-camp is situated. We had a very good training and the international players arrived early ahead of the competition,” said Häuptle ahead of the opener against the North Africans.

“We had a very closed friendly game that we played there, which went well, and also had a bit of Moroccan culture. So far, all good.”

While Zambia won the last encounter between the two sides during the Olympic qualifiers, the Swiss tactician insisted that past results will count for nothing on the day.

“There is competition between Zambia and Morocco. We had four games played last two years, and Zambia won the Olympic qualifiers, which makes good memories but for tomorrow’s (Saturday’s) game, we start at 0-0,” explained Häuptle.

“For me, it’s always a pleasure to start the opening game. I hope that there will be a packed stadium to get this vibrant atmosphere. As head coach, we like this atmosphere and we like to go all out because it’s vibrant.”

She added: “I worked three years with Ghana, but I am here now, present, my team is Zambia. I know where I belong. I am very excited to lead Zambia in this tournament. We want to come here to hunt. I think we are all very hungry, the players and I, to hunt for a title.

“Let’s see tomorrow (Saturday) how our starting performance is. It’s always very important that we live our values.”

After playing Morocco, Zambia will face Senegal on July 9 and DR Congo on July 12.

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