BUFFALOES OUTPLAY LIBERIANS

GREEN Buffaloes Women’s Football Club have started their 2022 CAF Women’s Champions League campaign on a promising note after humiliating Determine Girls 4-0 in their first group A fixture played on Sunday night at the Stade Moulay Hassan in Rabat, Morocco.

Goals from Maweta Chilenga, Natasha Nanyangwe, Hellen Chanda and Ireen Lungu handed the Charles Haalubono tutored side maximum three points to top group A. Despite having recorded a big win in their first fixture coach Charles Haalubono insists the team still has to work hard to improve upfront.

"It's a good start for us but I still feel we could have done more especially upfront where we created a lot of scoring opportunities but missed them. We didn't know much about our opponents, and I think the way we started showed that our girls were a little bit jittery. We need to improve on our finishing going forward because it's against the football gods to miss such chances. We shall have to be more clinical and help the girls to be more composed and have the needed confidence when in place," Haalubono said.

Haalubono however hailed his girls for playing a fast paced game and defending as a team to snatch their first victory.

"We played a fast-paced game after discovering that our opponents struggled to clear due to the slippery pitch. We played using our pace forwards and made sure that we defended as a team when we lost the ball. We played in the spaces our opponents left and that helped us. Determine girls are not a bad team, it's their first time just like us but we played with authority, and it paid off," said Haalubono.

Copper Queens’s midfield genius Ireen Lungu who was voted as the Woman of the match after contributing two assists and one goal, said the award has boosted her morale going into the next game. “It made me feel good because I have been working so hard. Yes, it has boosted me and the team, I dedicated the award to the team because alone I can’t do it. My target is to win the next game. I think if we win the next game, we will have hope that we can reach the next semi-final. I think we have to utilize our chances because we missed a lot of them," Lungu said.

Meanwhile Determine FC coach Lartey Robert accepted the defeat which he attributed to tactical breakdowns.

"Let me congratulate Green Buffaloes for the stellar performance. They did extremely well and deserve the win. They are a very tactical team. For us, it's the first time we are participating in such a competitive tournament. This is football and such happens and all we need is to go back to the drawing board and work on our mistakes heading into our next fixture," Robert said.

On the pitch, as COSAFA Champions, Buffaloes dominated play from the first whistle and were 1-0 up by the 8th minute.

Ireen Lungu’s defense-splitting pass found Maweta Chilenga who slotted in the winner for Buffaloes.

Lungu was able to find the back of the net 10 minutes later, but the goal was cancelled out as Hellen Chanda was deemed to have been offside in the build-up to the goal.

Natasha Nanyangwe grabbed Buffaloes' second after benefiting from another assist from Lungu who dictated play in the middle of the pack for Buffaloes and set up Chanda for Buffaloes' third goal in the dying minutes of the first half.

In the second half, the Zambian side continued to dictate play and grabbed their fourth in the 58th minute as Ireen Lungu’s goal-bound shot was pushed into the goal by goalie Jackie Touah.

Determine Girls tried to rally and push for a consolation goal late in the second half, but

Buffaloes held on to win the match 4-0, keeping a clean sheet.