.Bwale

By GRACE CHAILE –

COACH Charles Bwale has given the She-polopolo a month rest before resuming preparations for the Namibia 2014 Africa Women Championship (AWC) slated for October.
Bwale said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that the team has been given a month rest to allow the players recovery from the stress that came with attaining the historic qualification for the continental competition.
He said the break would also allow players with various injuries to recover before intense preparations begin for the AWC where Zambia hopes to get qualification to the Canada 2015 FIFA World Cup finals.
“The girls trained so hard during the period we were fighting for qualification and it is just wise to give them rest. We also have some injuries to Hellen Mubanga and Misozi Zulu whom we hope will recover when we regroup. We will still be monitoring the girls during this period,” he said.
Zambia beat Zimbabwe 2-0 on aggregate to seal a first ever qualification to the Africa Women Championship that will be held from October 11-25 and also serves s the continental qualifier for the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada next year.
Other teams that have qualified apart from Zambia and hosts Namibia are Ivory Coast, Nigeria, South Africa, Algeria, Ghana and Cameroon.
Bwale said the focus will now be towards ensuring that the team trains harder because the competition in Namibia will be tougher.
“The players have proven their capabilities by going through the qualification round and now the focus is to train harder to enable us compete favourably with the other teams that have qualified.
The qualification round was an eye opener of the team’s strengths and weaknesses. My target now is to improve on the weakness before leaving for Namibia. I am aware of the standards of teams at the tournament but with the girls are capable of performing well,’ he said.
Bwale thanked his technical team including the Chipolopolo coach Patrice Beaumelle for the effort put in to ensure that Zambia makes a maiden appearance at the AWC.