'Selection on hunger, not names': Haalubono's promise on the eve of the Uganda decider

Ninety minutes from either rescue or regret. The Copper Queens host Uganda's Crested Cranes at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola on Tuesday 13 October at 18:00, trailing 2–1 from Thursday's first leg in Kampala and needing to overturn the deficit to reach the third round of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic qualifiers. Ghana or Mauritius await the winner. The squad arrived back home at the weekend and trained at the match venue on Saturday evening, per FAZ, which has tickets on sale.

Interim coach Charles Haalubono's post-match reading in Kampala was blunt. Zambia, he said, lost control after taking the lead, improved in the second half after tactical changes to possession and movement, but failed to create clear scoring opportunities. He allowed one excuse — the artificial surface, for players more accustomed to natural grass — and took it away again by promising that selection for the return leg will be based on determination and willingness to fight for the national team rather than names or backgrounds. A Lusaka Times commentary made the same demand in starker terms: selection based on zeal, not reputation.

Captain Barbra Banda took the same line inward. The team would return to the drawing board to correct its mistakes, she said after the defeat; the result was not what Zambia wanted, but focus is on the return leg. She challenged the senior players to fight for their places after the young substitutes impressed in Kampala. For a side that has played at Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024, a third successive Olympics runs through Tuesday — and through a one-goal deficit against a team that fought, by the coach's own admission, harder than Zambia did.

Sources: Lusaka Times, “Halubono Challenges Copper Queens To Bounce Back” (10 Oct 2026); FAZ, “Hello Ndola! Copper Queens Back Home!” (10 Oct 2026).