Under-17 Copper Princesses breack camp

AARON MUBANGA writes@SunZambianTHE Zambia Under-17 Women’s national team have broken camp for ten-days before regrouping for final preparations for the COSAFA U-17 Women tournament.The tournament was initially set to take place between 15 and 25 October but is now pencilled in for November 3-14 concurrently with the COSAFA Women’s Championship in South Africa’s Nelson Mandela Bay.Over the weekend the Copper Princesses played the third practice match as they went head to head with newly formed side Lusaka Dynamos Ladies who were playing their first match after just two weeks of being in existence.U-17 Women Coach Kaluba Kangwa named a strong first eleven with In’utu Muchahabali starting in goal with striker cum defender Comfort Selemani partnering skipper Esther Siamfuko in the heart of the defense, Esther ‘Gelo’ Banda , Beauty Matilda Zulu, Maweta Gloria Chilenga, Melissa Mutaba, Tisilile Lungu, and Florence Kasonde all started for the Copper Princesses.It was tough but the U-17 created a lot of chances but they failed to utilize with Tisile and Florence both failing to make the better of their chances. Cindy Banda, Shelly Masumo, and Precious Nsama were later introduced but still, the final ball was lacking were Lusaka Dynamos grew into the game and started to threaten.Coach Kaluba Kangwa introduced an entirely new team featuring the likes of Margaret Chulu, Inonge Muyamwa, Patricia Mumba, Margaret Yambe, Margaret Chileshe, Mirriam Mwape, Pauline Zulu, Luty Kamanga, and Grace Sakala. The match continued to be very tight but Lusaka Dynamos grew in confidence and started taking on the U-17 defense.Speedy forward Vainess Namusamba put Lusaka Dynamos in the lead after a mistake by the defense failing to close her down as she picked her spot with a curled fine finish to the bottom right corner beating Margaret Chileshe in the Copper Princesses’ goal.Later on, the third team featuring the likes of Miriam Sikanduli, Edah Lungu, Nandipa Mukombe, Blessed Mwaba, Bupe, Tionge ‘Didi’ Sambo, Kangwa, and the outspoken Dorica fondly referred to us ‘Dodo’. Tionge and Bupe combined well and started creating chances for Kangwa who was failing to make the most of them. At this point Coach, Enal Simbeye Phiri also had made a number of changes with a new look team playing the last 40 minutes.Coach Kaluba Kangwa decided to reintroduce the enterprising Cindy Banda who came with a breath of fresh air and brought more purpose and energy to the side. Cindy was dangerous going forward and soon earned her teammates a penalty, Bupe stepped up but missed as she even failed to even hit the target.Minutes later Cindy maneuvered her way into the box beating a defender before poking home from close range to level matters, 1-1 the match finished with both teams accounting well for themselves giving their technical benches a lot of hope for their respective future engagements.Lusaka Dynamos head coach Enala Simbeye Phiri said her team did very well given that they have only been in existence for a short time but believes there is a lot of work to do before being ready to play in the Women’s Super League.“I think it was a good game especially that we have only been existence for two weeks and we had only one week to prepare for this game, so I think it was a good game. The U-17 is also looking good and preparing very well,” Enala Simbeye Phiri told the ZamFoot Crew.“For us, as LD we have done very well, The girls were following instructions and played according to the plan, we told them to press but we have a lot to work on, the girls lack fitness, we need a good training cycle to work on the physique, we have a lot of work to do to be ready for the league,” she added.Zambia U-17 Women’s national team assistant coach Carol Kanyemba Daka is concerned with the scoring rate but feels the girls have improved on fitness levels in the short time they have been in camp.“Following the game, we played against Red Arrows, today we failed to score as much but at least we are able to defend because we have only allowed one goal. We have homework to work on our scoring tactics because it is like we are having a challenge finding the back of the net so we really need to work on that,” she said.“The players are adapting and adjusting, they have been out of action for a long time but the things we have put in we are able to see some fitness levels in them it’s just a bit of coordination that’s lacking in them,” she added. The Sun