•ZAMBIA’S Ireen Lungu (left) and Veronica Herrera of Venezuela vie for the ball during the FIFA U-17 Women’s World cup 2014 group A match between Zambia and Venezuela at Estadio Nacional on Tuesday in San Jose, Costa Rica. (PHOTO BY FIFA VIA GETTY IMAGES)

From FELIX MALUNGA In Tibas, Costa Rica –

HAVING been knocked out of the FIFA 2014 Under-17 Women’s World Cup, Zambia will tonight hope to conclude the historic tour of duty on high against desperate hosts, Costa Rica on the synthetic pitch at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa here.

Zambia will just be playing for pride tonight and show the global football family that despite an early exit, the junior She-polopolo were still a force to reckon with in the women sport.

The change of venue from San Jose to Tibas, which has a reputation of being a safe and quiet city, should also help spur the Zambian lasses to produce their best-possible performance ever since arriving in Central America.

The junior She-polopolo, who have conceded six times in two games against Italy and Venezuela, are yet to register a goal here and will attempt to end that bad spell tonight.

Like Zambia, Costa Rica were also ejected from the tournament after losing their first two Group A games against Venezuela and newcomers, Italy.

Costa Rica have not scored also despite conceding four times. Making a debut at the World Cup, Zambia, who shocked bookmakers by qualifying to Costa Rica ahead of favourites South Africa, will go into this formality encounter carrying an underdog tag against the hosts.

Las Ticas, who have disappointed with their performance at home, will also be desperate to give their local fans something to smile for at the close of their otherwise poor campaign.

But Zambia coach, Albert Kachinga, whose team has been hit by injuries, is also not treating the match as a mere fixture fulfilment but hope to get a consolation win from this historic assignment here.

Key defender, Given Mukanda, who suffered a neck injury during the Venezuela match on Tuesday, is out of this final contest, joining Penelope Mulubwa on the sidelines.

Kachinga will have to shuffle his team as he tries to find the right combinations capable of subduing the hosts in front of their partisan but frustrated fans.

However, Kachinga’s charges will be up against Juan Diego Quesada’s experienced players, who hope to make it right in their final Group A match.

Quesada, who conceded after losing 1-0 to Italy on Tuesday that his approach and line-up in that match was wrong, is aiming to get the correct rhythm tonight and finish strongly against an inexperienced Zambian side.

And to help rebuild the team spirit before a showdown with the friendly hosts, the Zambian lasses spent almost the whole day on Thursday at Manuel Antonio Beach on the banks of the Pacific Ocean.

For tonight’s assignment kicking-off at 20:00 hours local time (04:00 hours Sunday in Zambia), Kachinga is expected to return Hazel Nali in goal with Bridget Lungu filling the void at the back left by Mukanda to partner restored captain, Martha Tembo.

Upfront, Ireen Lungu, who had a good game against Venezuela, should lead the search for elusive goals with Grace Chanda, Memory Phiri and Osala Kaleo supplementing the efforts.

Las Ticas’ quest for their first goal victory at the fourth edition of the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup will be spearheaded by Sofia Varela, Maria Araya, Fabiola Villalobos and captain, Gloriana Villalobos.

As Zambia and Costa Rica will be locking horns here in Tibas, Group A quarter-finalists, Venezuela and Italy will be battling for top spot at Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto Scotiabank in Alajuela.