It won't be an easy game - Zambia women's head coach

The head coach of Zambia women's national football team, Bruce Mwape, has revealed that his team will adopt a compact game strategy when they face the Black Queens of Ghana on Friday, 23 February in the first leg of their 2024 Olympic Games penultimate qualifying round in Accra.

Zambia's Copper Queens have a seasoned squad,

Read full articlehaving participated in the Olympics and FIFA Women's World Cup in the last four years.

According to Mwape, his team expects a favorable outcome in Accra in preparation for the return leg on 28 February at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium.

"We will play cautiously because it won't be an easy game. Though they will have home support, our players won't be discouraged. We have gained experience recently, and it will help us," Mwape said.

"Most of the team members we have called upon have participated in the Olympics and World Cup, which will be beneficial as we aim to beat Ghana. We have 30 players in camp, and we started training on Wednesday after kick-starting the camp on Tuesday. Fortunately, no injuries so far, and it has been a smooth operation. We played against the Black Queens here at Nkoloma some four years ago, and they provided us with a challenging competition, but we managed to win through a Kundananji (Rachel) hat-trick. It won't be easy because we have participated in these major tournaments, and everyone has seen. They are preparing for us, I am sure, because they know we are not pushovers," Mwape added.

The winner of the two-legged tie will play either Tunisia or Morocco in the final qualifying round.