Group: B (Third Round)
Match: South Africa vs Zambia
Venue: Accra Stadium
Referee: Carolyne Wanjala (Kenya)
Kickoff: 16:00 GMT
South Africa and Zambia trek from their Cape Coast base to the Accra Sports Stadium for their final group game of the 2018 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations Saturday afternoon.
The Copper Queens of Zambia have all to play for against the Banyana Banyana of South Africa as a defeat could compound their misery and send them[Zambia] packing from the tournament.
South Africa have had a sensational start to the tournament following an outstanding 1-0 win over Nigeria and thrashing Equatorial Guinea by 7-1. Coach Desiree Ellis needs to, at least, secure a point against Zambia to finish as winners of Group B.
Zambia had a brilliant start to the tournament by thumping Equatorial Guinea 5-0 in the opening game but a fine start to the tournament was jolted by a 4-0 defeat to Nigeria, putting Coach Bruce Mwape’s side at the backseat to any chance of making it out of the group stage alive as far as Nigeria and South Africa are concerned.
The two nations are meeting for the first time at the 2018 Women’s Afcon finals, forgoing the 6-2 aggregate wins South Africa secured in the qualifiers en-route to the 2014 edition.
TEAM NEWS
Both nations, Zambia and South Africa, have no injury concern heading to this game.
Coach Bruce Mwape has maintained similar line ups for the previous two games against Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria and might stick to same against South Africa.
Coach Desiree Ellis made three changes to the side that won 1-0 against Nigeria, super substitute, Thembi Kgatlana, Mohlakwana and Mpuni Nyandeni had starting berths after coming from the bench in the previous game.
MANAGERS’ THOUGHTS
Coach Desiree Ellis on Friday, at pre-match conference, recounted a safe trip from the base in Cape Coast to Accra and tagged the reception as fantastic ahead of the game against Zambia.
“We had a smooth trip from Cape Coast to Accra and the reception was fantastic. We have been here before, when we played Ghana in the friendly prior to the start of the competition.
“This game against Zambia for us is very important because we want to stay top of the group. It’s not going to be an easy match because we also know that Zambia are also in it, so we just have to make sure that we execute our plans really well and we get the positive result that we want.
“We must make sure that we stay focused, as we take one match at a time. We not getting ahead of ourselves because we know what is out there for us since we have not fully qualified to the semifinals and qualify to the World Cup.
“We are not taking any team likely and you underestimate any team in this competition at your own peril. So we stay focused and make sure everybody is on board. We have a few analyses on our opponents, but the most important is to execute them and for the players to get stuck to the game plan.
“We don’t have any injuries at all in camp, one player on a yellow card but no suspensions. So we are happy and very ready to meet Zambia” – Coach Desiree Ellis.
Coach Bruce Mwape claims his players lost their discipline against Nigeria, unlike the game against Equatorial Guinea and thinks discipline could see them through to the semifinals.
“In the game that we played Equatorial Guinea, the girls expressed themselves very well and played according to instructions. But in the game against Nigeria, they lost their discipline in terms of what the coaches told them.
“Most of the girls did not play according to instructions, especially in the second half where we allowed too many goals through our full back. But that is in the past now, because we have a game on Saturday that we need to win if indeed we want to stay in this competition.
“We have three points and so has Nigeria. Its only South Africa that has 6 points, but even that they haven’t qualified and will still need a good result against us. So the Group is wide open for the three of us and we know what we have to do is beat South Africa and hope for the best in the other Group game” – Coach Bruce Mwape.
