Zambia qualification to WAFCON quarters ‘all in our hands’ – Häuptle

Dennis Kegengo
6 days ago
2 min read

Copper Queens head coach Nora Häuptle believes that their hard-earned 3-2 victory against Senegal put their qualification chances to the knockout stages of CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) in ‘our hands’ ahead of the final Group A fixture against DR Congo on Saturday.

The Zambian side kicked off their campaign with a frustrating 2-2 draw against hosts Morocco, but recovered to see off Senegal in a result that kept their hopes of reaching the quarter-finals firmly alive.

With Morocco also beating DR Congo 4-2 in their second fixture, Zambia and the Atlas Lionesses are level on four points, separated only by goal difference, with the final group games set to be decisive. Zambia faces DR Congo, while Morocco takes on Senegal on Saturday. A win for the Copper Queens will confirm a place in the last eight.

“We knew we had the pressure to take the three points. My team showed that we say in Zambia, that they have the desire, the will, and the passion to defend, to fight. I like what we did,” said Häuptle after the win against Senegal.

“We have to focus on our team. I think it’s all in our hands. We need to focus on ourselves and perform well in the third game.”

On their win against Senegal, the Swiss tactician recounted: “The team showed very good character against Senegal, and we were able to adjust. We equalised and then also went up 2-1. I think even before the brea,k we should have scored 3-1 or 4-1. There have been enough chances on the pitch where we could have closed the game.

“We made a vow, we knew it was going to be a war, we were going to fight. We prepared the players mentally for that. We knew we were getting a lot of long balls. I think we were very stable with our two holding midfielders.”

She concluded: “Now it's to keep the work on and we always know that Team Zambia is always good at scoring 2–3 goals. So we must add to the score line in front and behind, we put in the work.”

Morocco are topping Group A with four points, the same number as second-placed Zambia while Senegal are third with three and DR Congo last without a single point.