By MICHAEL MIYOBA
WHILE many where anxious to see Barbra Banda or her vice Grace Chanda get the needed goals as Zambia hosted Tanzania in a send-off match at a fully packed Woodlands Stadium in Lusaka, a lone goal from an unlikely hero rescued the Bruce Mwape-drilled side from disappointing their fans.
Second half substitute, Comfort Selemani was the hero of the day as her lone strike guaranteed a win for the World Cup-bound Copper Queens who defeated the Twiga Stars 1-0 to give the Zambian fans something to cheer about.
The final home game was meant to give Zambians a glimpse of what they expect to see at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup set to kick off next month in Australia and New Zealand.
Coach Mwape had started the match with his best stars led by Banda and the Copper Queens went on to dominate the match but struggled to get the goals.
The Copper Queens could have punished the Twiga Stars in the seventh minute when Grace Chanda delivered a deadly cross in the Tanzania box that was headed wide by Banda.
Eleven minutes into the first stanza, Banda was able to race clear of the Twiga Stars defence and set up Rachael Kundananji who left the ball for right back Margaret Belemu. Belemu was however unfortunate as her attempt went wide.
Chanda could have stunned the Tanzanian goal keeper six minutes after the half hour mark but her sublime free kick was easily dealt with by the goal keeper as the first half ended goalless.
In the first minute of the second half, Mwape made three changes as Susan Banda replaced Rhoda Chileshe while Vast Phiri and Selemani replaced Lushomo Mweemba and Xiomara Mapepa respectively.
It took Selemani 24 minutes to prove that Mwape was not wrong to believe in her as she grabbed the crucial goal to dim the Twiga Stars in front of the over 10, 000 spectators who had filled Wodlands Stadium to capacity to give the girls a perfect send off.
