Nineteen years after the national team was wiped out in a plane crash, Zambia return to Gabon in a bid to honour their memories
Dreams of triumph will accompany Saturday's opening of the Africa Cup of Nations but so too will echoes of tragedy. The two will combine to make Zambia the most motivated team at the tournament.
They begin their campaign against Senegal and hope to end it by winning the final in the pristine new 40,000-seater stadium in Libreville, the capital of Gabon. Such conditions contrast starkly with many Zambians' understanding of the word "Gabon", which since 1993 has been slang in Lusaka for a dangerously dilapidated vehicle. The meaning is derived from one of the worst disasters in football history, when the rickety old plane carrying the Zambia team to a 1994 World Cup qualifier in Senegal crashed into the Atlantic Ocean moments after a stop-over in Gabon, killing everyone on board.
The cause of the calamity has never been fully established despite a 10-year investigation. Most suspect a mechanical fault in the haggard military Buffalo aircraft, though other, more sinister, theories persist. What is unquestionable is that the 30 people who perished included 18 gifted players, including six members of the team that, as teenagers, had announced Zambia's rising strength by thrashing Italy 4-0 at the 1988 Olympics. No one will ever know what that team could have achieved if they had made it to World Cup, but in Zambia there is no doubt they were the best that the country, and possibly the continent, ever had.
In the aftermath of the tragedy there was an extraordinary outpouring of grief in Zambia, with tens of thousands turning out to mourn the dead, who are buried outside the national stadium. But there also came a remarkable achievement, as, driven by a desire to honour the departed, a hastily assembled second-string Zambia side travelled to the Africa Cup of Nations just a few months later and made it all the way to the final, where they lost narrowly to Nigeria. The current squad is similarly determined.
"We are going to this tournament to put the souls of our fallen heroes to rest," said the goalkeeper, Kennedy Mweene. "Most of us were in primary school when the crash happened, but Kalusha remembers it vividly and has encouraged us to keep those who perished in our minds whenever we fight for our country." The Kalusha in question is Kalusha Bwalya, the former striker who is alive only because he, by dint of having had to travel from Holland, where he played for PSV Eindhoven, was not on the same doomed plane as his team-mates.
Bwalya is now the head of the Zambian FA and his zeal for the team to excel at the scene of their darkest hour is part of the reason why, within days of qualifying for this year's tournament, he sacked the manager, Dario Bonetti, and rehired Herv� Renard, who had impressed when guiding Zambia to an unlucky quarter-final defeat on penalties in the last edition before setting off for a more lucrative post in Angola. R�nard, who began his interesting managerial career at Cambridge United, is aware how much this tournament means to his charges.
"It is my dream to win the Cup of Nations in Libreville because a great part of Zambian football history was written there," he said. "Imagine if we could lift the trophy, it would be a fantastic way to honour the memories of those who made the ultimate sacrifice while serving the land they loved."
Such a victory seems as improbable as it would be delightful. Zambia, with a forward line featuring the former Portsmouth player Collins Mbesuma, have had trouble scoring for months, while their first opponents are armed with firepower that includes Lille's Moussa Sow and the Newcastle duo of Demba Ba and Papiss Demba Ciss�. Senegal are rightly one of the tournament favourites.
Even the lowest-ranked team in the tournament, Equatorial Guinea, who will have the benefit of playing at home as one of the co-hosts, fancy their chances of thwarting Zambia plans. "I know something about Zambia, their play isn't really that frightening, they could even be the weakest team in the group," said their unsentimental Brazilian manager, Gilson Paulo, adding: "In the game of football, there are certain things we accept, like losing and drawing. But I don't think losing to Zambia is an acceptable thing. It's totally unacceptable." Libya, who also have an extraordinary tale to tell after qualifying for the tournament amid the revolution in their homeland, are the other team in Group A ? and they took four points off Zambia during the qualification campaign.
If Zambia do make it out of their group they will face opponents from Group B, where the strongest-looking team is Ivory Coast. Following several previous disappointments in the tournament, this is probably the last chance for the Didier Drogba-led generation to become champions of Africa. Other powerful contenders for that crown are Ghana, whom striker Asamoah Gyan has boosted by returning from injury far quicker than anticipated, and Morocco, who have several slick midfield schemers and great cohesion under the manager Eric Gerets but must first get through a group in which they face a tough North African derby against Tunisia and a clash with Gabon in front of a hugely partisan crowd. No winner, however, would get a louder cheer than Zambia.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/jan/19/zambia-africa-cup-of-nations
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