Zambia: Angola Women’s National Team head coach Sousa Gracia has reiterated his earlier sentiments that Zambia is miles ahead in terms of Women’s Football in comparison to Angola.
Gracia believes the 6-0 loss at home was not because of how his team played but because of how good Zambia is as a team.
The Copper Queens thrashed Angola 6-0 away in Luanda with a hat-trick from skipper Barbra Banda.
“Our game plan will almost be the same, it is not the opponent. We will stick to our type of play and try to enjoy the game,” he said.
“I think the result was not because of how we played but how good the opponent was. Even if we change in a few days, we are not going to do anything. The best way is to continue our process like I said before.”
“The result was not because we were not good enough but because the opponent was just stronger. In terms of Women’s Football, Zambia is more developed than us, so we just keep building this process, and maybe in future, we can get a better result,” he added.
Gracia says for now, it’s not about the result for his team but continuing to work on their process of development.
When asked about the possibility of overturning the result, Gracia said ‘not yet’ and that his team was here to just play the best they can.
“For us, it’s not about the result; we know where we are in the process; we are building a process. If we look at a scale of one to ten, we are at two, and you (Zambia ) are at 7. To be honest (on overturning the result), not yet. We are here to play the best we can, and if we can get a positive result, a win or a draw, we will just try hard,” he said.
“I think Zambia have a Women’s League, and we don’t; even if we had a league, you need to have a competitive league, and the third one is that Zambia has so many players playing abroad. This is why I am saying this is not about how we play; maybe in future, we can come here and compete.”
“We are about ten years behind in comparison to Zambia in terms of Women’s Football,” he added.
The Copper Queens host Angola this evening at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium, with kick-off set at 18h00.
Tickets for the match are available at ShopRite Stores Countrywide via Computicketing from as low as K30.