With a scream Davies Nkausu hurtled past, carrying a Zambian flag in his outstretched arm. Christopher Katongo wasn’t far behind and, as the rest of the squad joined them, they danced delighted in the centre circle. And so, after their 1-0 win, Zambia head on to Libreville, a city that, for them, stands as plangent as any in the annals of tragedy. It was two minutes after take-off from Libreville that the plane carrying the Zambia team to Senegal for a World Cup qualifier in 1993 exploded, killing all on board. The greatest of all Zambian players, Kalusha Bwalya, survived only because he played for PSV Eindhoven and so was making his own way to the game. He is now the president of the Football Association of Zambia. “There’s something written that we have to go to play to honour the memories of the Zambia national team that died in 1993, It was catastrophic for the nation. The 12 million people of Zambia are waiting for us to go back to Libreville. Immediately after we arrive, we will go to the place. We just have to think of them and play for them and play for Zambia because it’s a fantastic country.”
zambia shocks ghana to make the african cup of nations final and ensure a return to libreville, the site of one of sports’ greatest modern tragedies.
