Bruce Mwape eyes Super Falcons scalp and bronze medals

Zambia Women’s national team head coach Bruce Mwape says his team will take the third and fourth play off match against Nigeria very serious.

Mwape has set his sights on the bronze medals after failing to reach the final following their controversial 1-0 loss to Banyana Banyana on Monday.

The Copper Queens boss expects a tough match against the Super Falcons but believes his team can still manage to get one over on the record nine time Champions.

“We will take it very serious since it is the last game of the tournament. We will make sure we go with medals, although we have already won some player of the match accolades but what we want is to go with the third place medals, as far as am concerned we stand a good chance,” he said.

“Nigeria is a formidable team, they have mature players playing especially in Europe. They are very strong but when we look at our team I think we have got a team of young players who can last over 120 minutes and I think we can have an upper hand because some of the Nigerian Women are now aging.”

Mwape is full of praise for his team and how well they have played at the tournament.

The Copper Queens have already booked a place at their maiden World Cup and Mwape wants his players to remain consistent ahead of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup to be held in Australia and New Zealand.

“The girls I can say they have played well, despite some of them playing for the first time like Katongo (Evarine Susan) am sure they have now matured and going forward I think we will have a good team, very experienced team,” he said.

“I only hope there will be consistency because some players tend to relax which is not supposed to be the case. We will just try to encourage them to continue working hard because the World Cup is not far from now and even the preparations for World Cup should start now.”

The Copper Queens will face the Super Falcons on Friday in a third and fourth play off at the .

The Nine Woman Super Falcons were were defeated by the Atlas Lionesses in a post-match penalty shootout following a 1-1 draw after extra-time in the enthralling semi-final match in Rabat.

The Copper Queens on the other hand suffered a 1-0 loss to Banyana Banyana courtesy of a controversial Linda Mothlalo late penalty at Casablanca’s Mohammed V Stadium.