Ninety minutes to save the Olympic road: the Copper Queens regroup in Ndola for Tuesday's decider against Uganda

The deficit is one goal; the margin for error is none. The Copper Queens travelled straight from Kampala to Ndola after Thursday's 2-1 first-leg defeat to Uganda at the Hamz Stadium, and will finish the tie at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium on Tuesday, 13 October. The winner on aggregate advances to the third round of African qualifying for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic women's football tournament, where Ghana — 3-0 first-leg winners over Mauritius — are the likely opponents.

Thursday's match began the way Zambia planned it. Six minutes in, Barbra Banda produced a trademark surging run down the left and crossed for Prisca Chilufya to finish — the early away lead the game plan was built on. But Agnes Nabukenya pegged the Crested Cranes level before the break, and Sylvia Kabene's second-half header turned the evening in Kampala's favour, leaving interim head coach Charles Haalubono with a tie to rescue rather than protect. It is the first real test of the rebuilt bench: FAZ bolstered Haalubono with ZESCO Ndola Girls' Florence Mwila and Wisdom Zulu for this double-header, after the disappointment of the 2026 WAFCON campaign that cost the team its World Cup path.

The Kopala factor is the Queens' remaining card. FAZ has spent the week rallying the Ndola crowd — “Ba Kopala, are you ready?” — and the club game has set the mood: ZESCO Ndola Girls beat Malawi's Ntopwa FC comprehensively in the COSAFA region CAF Women's Champions League qualifier this week, a reminder of what Levy Mwanawasa does for home sides. Zambia have qualified for the last two Olympics and exited at the group stage both times; the road to a third appearance, and to repairing the WAFCON damage, runs through ninety minutes on Tuesday evening.

Sources: Pan-Africa Football, “Women's Olympics (Q): Uganda surprise Copper Queens” (9 Oct 2026); ZamFoot on the technical-bench appointments (28 Sept 2026) and the squad build-up (5 Oct 2026); FAZ media on the second-leg date and venue; Bola News on the LA 2028 qualifying pathway (April 2026); Lusaka Brief, “Defeat at Nakivubo” (9 Oct 2026).