U-17 Women’s World Cup: Kanyemba blames lack of courage for Zambia exit

Zambia U-17 women’s national team coach Carol Kanyemba has attributed the team’s exit from the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco to lacking courage in their Round of 16 fixture against Japan on Wednesday.

The Copper Princesses’ journey came to an end after suffering a 6-0 defeat against Canada in a one-sided affair at Football Academy Mohammed VI (Pitch 1).

Oh, Canada! Into the Quarter-finals! 🇨🇦👏@CANWNT | #U17WWC

— FIFA Women’s World Cup (@FIFAWWC) October 29, 2025

The Canadians got the opener when Lacey Kindel finished off a cross from Melisa Kekic. The North Americans stretched their lead to two, as a slight touch from Kekic set up an easy sweep into net for Daniela Feria-Estrada.

Mya Angus found the top right corner for the third goal, before Chloe Taylor applied a cool finish, and Feria-Estrada capped up the emphatic victory from free-kick.

Zambia relaxed and killed tempo of the game

Speaking after the game, Kanyemba conceded defeat saying her side lacked the courage to take on Canada, the same way they did against New Zealand in the group stages.

“Canada was very strong. I think we had too relaxed of an attitude and that killed the tempo of the game. I think the attitude that we came in with against New Zealand was different and if we had carried on that way, we would have given Canada a good run,” Kanyemba told FIFA.com.

“Canada’s group games have been good, they’ve been scoring and showing resilience. We knew we’d have to play combinations, but our girls lacked courage today to get into the final third. I think that’s where we lost it.”

Canada coach Jen Herst Canada praised Zambia despite the defeat: “Zambia did a good job of breaking up play and stopping the momentum, so it was hard for us to get into our flow.

“We keep talking about making sure we grow every single game and that we know our identity, we know who we are and we know how we play and we just keep building on that and keep getting better.”

Africa will not have a team in the quarterfinals after Nigeria lost 4-0 against Italy, while hosts Morocco suffered a 6-1 thumping of Korea DPR. Zambia started their World Cup campaign with a 2-1 loss to Paraguay falling 4-1 to Japan and concluded with a 4-0 drubbing of New Zealand to secure a knockout berth.