Spirited Zambia out to defend their crown

 

Jonathan Wilson tells us how Zambia overcame tragedy to win last year's African Cup of Nations and how they're shaping up in an attempt to defend their crown...

 

Zambia's triumph in Libreville last February, coming 19 years after the Zambia side was wiped out in a plane crash off the coast of the Gabonese capital, was one of football's great stories, a hugely emotional occasion in which ability seemed secondary to the sense of destiny their players clearly felt.

 

As Kalusha Bwalya, the president of the Zambian federation and a survivor of 93 (he escaped the crash because he played for PSV Eindhoven and so was making his own way to the fateful World Cup qualifier in Senegal), put it, there were not just 11 players on the pitch but also 11 ghosts.

 

By the time of the penalty shoot in the final, the tide of sentiment had made Zambian success seem almost inevitable and the result of that was that the quality of their football was overlooked. Zambia had the lowest pass completion rate of any side at the tournament, proof, if needed, that no statistic in football makes sense without a context.

 

Had they been trying to play possession football, of course that would have been disastrous, but they weren't. Rather, they sat the back four and two holding midfielders deep, looked to absorb pressure and spring quickly forward on the break, using the pace of the two side men, Rainford Kalaba and Isaac Chansa, in conjunction with the hold-up play of Emmanuel Mayuka and the intelligence of Christopher Katongo. What was important was less the accuracy of the ball out of defence than the speed.

 

They were organised, disciplined and played to their strengths. Katongo, at 30, is an intelligent leader both in a strict football sense and more generally in the squad. Mayuka has struggled for games since moving from Young Boys of Bern to Southampton but he excelled a year ago when given the specific task of leading the line and laying the ball back to Katongo or one of the two wingers, keeping Collins Mbesuma out of the side even after the Golden Arrows forward had returned to fitness.

 

Renard is a manager who combined strictness with paternalism: he expelled Clifford Mulenga from the squad in the early stages of the tournament after the midfielder had refused to apologise having broken a curfew and punched the right-back Davies Nkausu in the chest during the final for defending too high up the pitch, but at the final whistle of the final he carried the injured left-back Joseph Musonda onto the pitch to join the celebrations.

 

He also has his lucky white shirt, which added to his longish hair gives him the air of a raffish eighteenth century buccaneer. Renard has coached Zambia in 10 matches at the Africa Cup of Nations and lost only once, to Cameroon in Angola in 2010. That is also, coincidentally, the only time he hasn't worn white, instead preferring a blue shirt. It's safe to assume he'll stick to white throughout in South Africa.

 

So, can lightning strike twice? Renard insists his side is "better than last year at the same stage. But look what happened then: we had nothing to show for ourselves and we won the tournament."

 

That's as may be, but in their last two warm-up games, Zambia have lost 2-0 to Angola and drawn 0-0 with Morocco. "The game against Angola was a last-minute friendly," Renard explained. "We were in the same hotel and scheduled the game one day before only, with all 23 players being fielded at some point. Against Morocco we played well but we just lacked efficiency.

 

"We can't hide, we are the defending champions. But we can't say we are the favourites. Everybody would laugh if I said that. Ivory Coast and Ghana are the favourites. But in one year, there has been no problem. Not a player showing up late for a training camp, no behaviour problem."

 

Zambia are 19.0 to repeat their triumph, significantly longer than Nigeria (11.5), who are in the same group. That may be a step too far, but 1.6 To Qualify isn't bad value given the spirit and organisation in the side - certainly rather better than the 2.0 available for Burkina Faso to pip either them or Nigeria.

 

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