China Friendly To Give Copper Princesses World Cup Feel - Kanyemba

Zambia U17 Women’s National Team coach Carol Kanyemba says the Copper Princesses need high-profile international friendly matches to properly assess their readiness for the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco.

Kanyemba told FAZ Media after the team’s training session on Thursday morning that the squad had made good progress during its local camp but was currently about 60 percent ready.

“I can say we are 60 percent (ready) because most of it has to come from the high-profile friendlies that we will play; that’s when we will be able to know how ready we are. We’ve just trained locally alone,” Kanyemba said.

The Copper Princesses are scheduled to face China on October 9, with the Football Association of Zambia -FAZ- working to secure additional international friendly matches ahead of the tournament.

Kanyemba thanked FAZ for arranging the China friendly and said the matches would provide the players with an opportunity to test themselves against stronger opposition.

“We can only know how much the girls are able to deliver if we have competition that is high level compared to what we have been subjected to. We will be able to know once we play the friendly games,” she said.

Kanyemba explained that most of the players from last year’s team have graduated, leaving the current squad with limited experience at this level.

She said additional international matches would therefore be important in giving the players a feel of the World Cup before travelling to Morocco.

“So if we prepare better than we did last year; last year we played one friendly game; the Association can organize more than one friendly game, for us to be able to give a number of players a feel of the World Cup before we go to the tournament itself,” Kanyemba said.

The Copper Princesses will face Japan, France and Venezuela in Group D at the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup, which runs from October 17 to November 7 in Morocco.

FAZ General Secretary Charles Chakatazya has confirmed that the Association is also courting a South American team and another from Europe for additional pre-tournament friendly matches.