Zambia have become the first African country to crash out of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup following Wednesday’s 5-0 drubbing by Spain at Eden Park.
The Copper Queens as they are affectionately known in the football circles, were making their debut on the World Cup stage.
The success of the Zambian national team encouraged and inspired many young women to take part in the sport in a country where soccer has been dominated by men for a long time.
As inspiring as it’s been to see the team compete in the world stage, their journey has come to an end, as this was their consecutive 5-0 thrashing (the first was in their opening match against Japan).
Zambia are not the only team to be knocked out, Costa Rica also saw their hopes of advancing to the knockout stage come to an end. Costa Rica opened Wednesday’s slate of matches with a 2–0 loss to Japan.
Both Costa Rica and Zambia will still have a chance to secure their first Women’s World Cup win when they face off on Monday. The two nations will want to avoid finishing at the bottom of the group.
While it is Zambia’s first ever World Cup appearance for either men or women national teams, Costa Rica last featured in the 2015 tournament, when it secured two draws.
On the other hand, title contenders Spain and former champions Japan became the first teams to reach the Women’s World Cup last 16 as both won with ease.
Japan and Spain meet on Monday to decide who wins Group C.
In the final match of the day, Olympic champions Canada are a step closer to reaching the last 16 following their 2-1 win against Ireland.
