Shepolopolo have suffered a second setback before their opening Group B match on Sunday at the 2018 Women’s AFCON tournament in Ghana.
Key striker and captain Barbara Banda will miss the opening game against two-time champions Equatorial Guinea after accruing two yellow cards in the qualifiers.
“Somehow it is actually a drawback but we will try by all means to work with the players that we have,”Shepolopolo coach Bruce Mwape said.
“The last time we played a friendly against Ghana, Barbara wasn’t with the team but we managed to beat Ghana.”
Banda missed the Ghana friendly played on November 3 in Lusaka that Zambia won 3-2 due to a month-long trial spell with Spain Primera Division Femenina side Logrono where she subsequently clinched a two-year deal.
“This time around this different ball game all together. We would have loved to have her in the team because she is actually our dependable player,” Mwape said.
The development came just five days after second choice goalkeeper Catherine Musonda was ruled out of the tournament after sustaining an ankle injury in a 7-0 friendly loss to Cameroon in Abidjan.
Set back was to remove female coach, and replace with failed Zambian male coaches.