Zambia President Hakainde Hichilema has led the country to congratulate the Coppers Queens for qualifying for the Women Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) finals for the fifth time and third in a row after thumping Angola 6-0, 12-0 on aggregate at Levy Mwanawansa Stadium on Tuesday.
After a 6-0 win in the first leg, the Copper Queens did not show mercy by opening their account as early as the fourth minute through Racheal Kundananji. Skipper Barbra Banda made it 2-0 and 8-0 on aggregate after benefiting from a Racheal Nachula assist, who had earlier missed a seater.
Thirsty for more, experienced Red Arrows midfielder Susan Banda scored a spectacular goal from her own half a minute from the restart before substitute Avell Chitundu also got onto the score sheet in the 76th minute. The goals kept coming, with Esther Banda scoring her first goal in the national team colors through captain Banda’s assist before Kundananji rounded off the scoring with her 11th international goal of the year.
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Zambia’s Head of State took to his social media pages to hail the girls: “Qualifying to the WAFCON with a bang. Great work girls,” he wrote, adding: “More work starts now ahead of the tournament and set our eyes on the trophy itself and another qualification to the World Cup. Great to note that both the Chipolopolo boys and Copper Queens have simultaneously qualified for the continent’s biggest competitions.”
Meanwhile, Federation of Zambia (FAZ) President Andrew Kamunga said the Copper Queens have made the nation proud by qualifying for their third consecutive WAFCON. “On behalf of my executive committee and myself, I wish to congratulate the Copper Queens and the technical bench for sealing qualification to next year’s WAFCON. The Copper Queens brand has continued to grow and established itself as a regular at international tournaments,” Kamanga said in a statement.
“It is a mark of great pride that the Zambian flag will fly at the WAFCON for the third consecutive time. It goes without saying that the graph speaks for itself having always bettered our performance progressively at every tournament.”
He continued: “As we have done for any single team that has qualified for major tournaments, we will liaise with the technical bench over an intensive preparatory program.”
Kamanga further thanked the thousands of fans who turned up at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola to spur the Copper Queens to victory on their debut at the 44,000-capacity Stadium.