From their first game against Senegal, they laid down their marker, showing that they had not merely come to make up the numbers. As the tournament went on they grew in confi- dence. Their semi-final victory over Ghana was stunning and left the Ghanaians, who thought they merely had to come here to lift the trophy, shell-shocked.


The goal Emmanuel Mayuka scored was befitting to win any semi-final. As for the final against Ivory Coast, they simply wanted it more than Ivory Coast. They showed over 120 min- utes of football that they had a heart and they were clearly the better team by far. Ivory Coast had all the big names that froze on the biggest stage, but Zambia had a team with a team spirit and work rate second to none! For those of you who know your football very well, you would know that Zambia have al- ways been near the summit of African Football. Zambia had previously reached the Nations Cup final in 1974 and 1994.


Reaching the 1994 final in itself was a remarkable achieve- ment considering their team had perished in 1993 on the coast near Libreville, in Gabon, and they had to hurriedly assemble another team. They gave a good account of themselves in that final but narrowly lost to the Super Eagles who were at their peak at the time.


Zambian coach Hervé Renard has done a remarkable job with this team. But most times, such title-winning coaches move on in search of greener pastures leaving behind their success. The challenge now for the Zambian sports authorities is to strive to keep him in charge to help the team qualify for their first FIFA World Cup this time.


93


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