Shepolopolo are at full house following the arrival in camp of striker and captain Barbara Banda ahead of this week’s kickoff of the 2018 Women’s AFCON in Ghana.
The striker from Spanish side Logrono arrived at Shepolopolo’s camp in Cote d’Ivoire the early hours of Sunday morning.
Banda landed in Abidjan just 24 hours after her teammates arrived there for a five-day training camp in transit to the Women’s AFCON that Ghana will host from December 17 to November 1.
The striker is also meeting-up with Shepolopolo for the first time after missing the month-long local training camp and the
3-2 friendly win against Ghana on November 3 in Lusaka.
Banda skipped camp to attend trials in Spain where she secured a two year deal with Women’s top tier club Logrono.
“Our aim is not to just go there as participants but we are aiming higher so that we can go to the World Cup,” Banda said.
“It might look as the toughest group at the tournament but, as a team, we won’t look at the names of the team’s.
“The morale in camp is very high and the girls are focused and we are not intimidated.”
Shepolopolo are in a tough Group B where they have been dawn against four-time runners-up South Africa, two-time winners Equatorial Guinea and defending champions Nigeria.
Shepolopolo will face Equatorial Guinea in their opening Group B match on November 18 and Nigeria in their penultimate fixture on November 21 ,both games will be in Cape Coast, before heading to Accra to face Banyana on November 24.
From December 17 to November 7? That’s 1 year in Ghana.