Throwback Thursday

Zambia vs Zaire 4 : 2 win for Zambia

Efford,Soko, Changwe, Melu, Eston, Derby, Msiska, Makinka,Musonda Stone, Wisdom and Kalu

Standing/// Efford Chabala, Stone Nyirenda, Derby Makinka, Charles Musonda, Estone Mulenga, Wisdom Chansa..

Sqatting/// Whiteson Changwe, John Soko, Great Kalu, Lucky Msiska, Ashios Melu

@Zamfoot.

Is “Throwback Thursday” restricted to the national team alone? what of Local football action?

My team…….!!

Power Dynamos

Arguably Zambia’s best Eleven ever….with the 88 Africa’s footballer of the year at the top of his game. Each one of these guys was outstanding. The 74 defeat against Zaire was finally avenged…the return match in Kinshasa ended in a draw 1-1 (if my memory serves me well) with Wisdom playing the game of his life and Eston containing Zaire’s formidable forwards. Zamfoot: These guys didn’t need a coach that’s why I can’t remember him (just a joke!)

Thanks, Ace for that correction. It was 1-0 to Zaire in Kinshasa. I became a big fan of Changwe that day….always unassuming but tough and dangerous on the overlap. We must remember that the level of competition was extremely high that year; each country had a very good team and no wonder Cameroon did so well in Italy.

My Team….!!!, That Zairean goalkeeper merikan pangi made a sign of the cross at one point after we had mercilessly and relentlessly attacked his goal!! With Muchofe on the right wing Stone upfront…..smh i will never see the likes of that ferocity ever!! And that was a good Zaire team by the way…….. Who in the current line up would walk into this 1st eleven…….? NONE!! Even the bench would be tough!!!

I will always think of Kabongo Ngoi of the then Zaire. Well those were the days

Zambia opened the scores when Lucky Msiska headed in a Kalusha Bwalya corner. Derby Mankinka doubled the advantage with a long range shot but Kabongo Ngoyi reduced the arrears when he dribbled past Zambia’s captain Ashios Melu and beat Chabala. Half time scores were 2-1 in favour of Zambia. A few minutes into the second half Zambia won a corner. Kalusha’s corner yet again resulted into aother goal this time by striker stone Nyirenda who connected the ball into the net after the Zaire an defenders failed to clear the ball. Moments later Kalusha scored from the spot, beating the highly rated goalkeeper Amerikan to make it 4-1. It could have been more but Nyirenda’s short hit the upright. Ngoyi yet again scored, this time from a free kick taken just a few meters from the box to make it 4-2. Even though Kalu was tightly marked, Charles Musonda, Mankinka and Msiska completely dominated the midfield leaving Mutubile and company chasing shadows most of the time. The combination between Wisdom Chansa and Nyirenda looked lethal and gave the Zairean defence led by Wawa a torid time.

Also Santos Mutubile, Zairean striker. He was also something else.

This was January 1989, a few days before I turned 11. The coach was Samuel “zoom”Ndhlovu. In the previous game zoom made a big blunder when he dropped Estone Mulenga and brought in George Lwandamina. We were torn apart by the Morrocans. We were lucky to lose by a narrow 1-0 margin.

BAM SHOTS MAAWE

That return match was tough in front of 80000 Zairian fans.The elegant Wisdom Chansa, who always cared about the way he looked on and off the pitch: from hair to toe…,headed for the tunnel at the end of the game looking quite disheveled like a bruised but victorious (on aggregate) gladiator…walking out of a bloody arena….such was the intensity and ferocity of the that duel.

Zambia umwana,Zambia umwana emwine wa bola…emwine wa mupila.

Eston “yellowman” Mulenga: The best defender Zambia has ever produced. I first saw him when GBFC beat mighty mufulira wanderers 1-0 in a cup final. He also featured for Zambia in that 4-0 win over Guatemala at the 1988 soul olympics. He was a hard nut to crack.

The purpose of friendly games in sports is to identify strengths and weaknesses and to expose players.it is unfair to judge a coach on such games. They are a means to an end rather than an end; the process not the finished product. You will remember that Zambia lost a string of friendlies preparing for the 2012 afcon which they won. South Africa won a good number of friendlies, i think the same year and were very highly ranked but failed to qualify for afcon. Brazil beat teams left right and centre but performed poorly at home in the last world cup. Selecting you best team for friendlies exposes your team. It is ok to experiment.

If coach ‘chicken’ George fails to qualify the team to the next afcon, we may be at liberty to throw at him whatever wepons we have. There has never been a great coach who has never lost a game. Loss builds character and experience; it is part of the process. While 2012 was great, we need to appreciate what it took us to win the cup rather than get lost in the euphoria of victory; and what made us fail in 2013. The road to the 2012 triamph was marred by a numbes of unwanted losses but that shaped the team for success.we went in as underdogs came out champions because of this. In 2013 we went to afcon as champions but threw away what made us. People let us forget 2012 and the past glories and focus on what we have at the moment; “ubulimi bwakale tabu talalika mwana”.

Ba mwa lubana na answer. U ask a question that u cn’t answer.

This team would take anyone in Africa. We won all our home games but lost all away games 1-0 to Zaire, Tunisia and Morocco. Morocco we lost with the reconstructed team after that plane crush.
This one of the best games I ever watched our buys play. It was attack after attack on the Congo goal!