(Reuters) – Zambia have called up 18-year-old goalkeeper Leticia Lungu as a replacement for first-choice Hazel Nali, who was forced out of the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand with a knee injury, officials said on Friday.
Lungu was part of a 35-player provisional squad but did not make the final cut as Nali, Kazakhstan-based goalkeeper Catherine Musonda and Nkwazi Queens’ Eunice Sakala were selected.
Nali tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) during a training camp in Germany, a blow for the team as she had helped them reach their first World Cup and to finish third in last year’s Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
Zambia, who beat Germany 3-2 in a friendly last week, are in World Cup Group C and open their campaign against Japan on July 22.
They face Spain four days later and Costa Rica on July 31.
(Reporting by Nick Said, editing by Ed Osmond)
