ZAMBIA has been drawn in what is regarded as a group of death (because among other things it comprises tough nuts-to-crack like Algeria, Cameroon and Nigeria)for the next Russia 2018 World Cup qualifiers, which starts on October 3.
Immediately the draw was announced,some people naturally started to question whether Zambia would make it to the former Soviet Uniongiven the fact that unlike Zambia, which still has to make its debut, Algeria, Cameroon and Nigeria have all been to the World Cup finals several times before.
Yes,new Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) secretary general Ponga Liwewe is correct in describing Group B as tough, but with careful preparations,  the odds are that Zambia can qualify at the expense of the ‘Indomitable’ Lions of Cameroon, the Nigerian Super Eagles and the Desert Foxes of Algeria.
So it would be folly for anyone to start hunting for scapegoats why Zambia might not qualify for Russia 2018.
In other words, rationalising issues won’t help because, it would appear to me, such thinking is a stratagem meantto condition soccer fans to readily accept defeat should the ‘Chipolopolo’ meet their waterloo once again.
Agreed, Algeria, Cameroon and Nigeria, have been at the World Cup finals many times before but that should not make us feel intimidated at all because the name of the game is football and we all knowin football, anything can happen.
If anyone has any doubts he/she must simply look at the remarkable performance of Iceland,a small island country which shockedthe 1966 World Cup kings England 2-1, in the on-going Euro2016 Championships in France.
In fact, the elimination of a football superpower nation like England from Euro2016, forcing Roy Hodgson, the England manager, to quit after his side crashed out at the last 16 stage, served to remind me of former coach Samuel ‘Zoom’ Ndhlovu’s seminal advice to his charges at the 1988 Seoul Olympic soccer tournament.
Zambia was not given a chance in the group simply because it included giants and former World Cup champions Italy and West Germany.
With their nemesis Iraqi, which had defeated the host nation in the final of the Asian Olympic qualifiers in the same group, the South Koreans in particular, had written off the Africans from Southern Africa.
But much to the surprise of the Koreans and international soccer community in general, Zambia put up an excellent performance in the opening game against late president Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi men in Kwangju city.
Unbelievably for the skeptical Koreans, Zambia stunned the Iraqis with two quick goals, forcing the Asian champions to twice come from behind to secure a 2-2 draw.
With that first-class showing the Zambians won the hearts and minds of the thousands of Koreans who erupted into chants of ‘Jambia’, ‘Jambia’ (it would appear there is no ‘Z’ in the Korean alphabet).
That result naturally gave everyone in the Zambian camp much confidence.
But will Zambia stand a chance against the hard-tackling Italians, their opponents in the second match on the Olympic programme?
This was the question on the lips of many soccer fans across the globe.
The day of the big match started on an interesting note for me and my colleague, the late James Mwambazi who was covering the Olympic Games for the Zambia Daily Mail.
After filing our stories in the Main Press Centre (MPC), we sat chatting with other sports writers about many developments at the Seoul Olympics, including the issue of Canada’s topsprinter Ben Johnson.
Dubbed the ‘fastest human on earth’Johnson was stripped of his Olympic gold medal after it was discovered that he had used a banned substance.
Then it was time for us to leave for the Zambia versus Italy at Kwangju, some six hundred kilometres away from Seoul.
But before that, a Nigerian journalist, who did not think Zambia stood a chance against ‘mighty’ Italy, said he saw no point in us travelling all the way to the Koreans coastal city when, according to him, the result was obvious to everyone except the ‘super optimist’.
‘Okay guys you can go but you will be very sorry by the time you come back,’ he said mockingly, adding: ‘You will be lucky to survive a massacre; you know that Italians are not Iraqis.’
But Zambia, undaunted, humbled the Italians by a record 4-0, with former skipper and FAZ president Kalusha Bwalya scoring three spectacular goals. The other goal came from another Bwalya, Johnstone.
When we returned to the Main Press Centre to file our stories later, our sarcastic Nigerian friend was nowhere nearer to be seen.
But Zambia had won against all odds and that victory had sent shockwaves down the spines of the third opponents, West Germany then led by Jurgen Klismann, who became coach of the United States (US) team upon retirement from active football.
Zambia’s victory against Italy had given the Germans sleepless nights; they were so worried they sent out their scouts or ‘spies’ to find out what type of football was played in Zambia.
When one of the German journalists asked me I told him ‘we played English football’ because ‘our country was a former British colony’ until 1964 when it won independence but FAZ had kept its ties with the English Football Association (FA).
Having done their homework, the Germans used the element of surprise to ambush Zambia, literally.
Their strategy was ‘to go in and score as many goals as possible, particularly in the first half,’and then sit back to defend their lead in the second half.
The Europeans succeeded as they banged in four quick goals which completely dazzled the Zambian players but fortunately not their coaches – Zoom and his assistant Dickson Makwaza.
Reading the game like a chess-master Ndlhovu could see where the problem lay: the boys were fearful of the Europeans because they were plainly treading carefully lest ‘they broke or injured the ‘muzungu’ legs’.
His task, therefore, was to ‘decolonise’ the mind of the younger and inexperienced lads in the team.
‘Why are you fearing them, is it because the Germans nearly conquered the world (during Second World War)? If they tackle you, tackle them as well,’ he instructed.
And dear reader here is the nab: ‘You must understand that the name of the game is football – not Germany – so go in and just play your usual football,’ Zoom added.
Ndhlovu’s first-half ‘pep talk’ worked wonders in the sense that the Germans failed to penetrate the Zambian defence and Klinsmann, who emulated Kalusha by scoring a hat-trick, did not find the back of the net in the entire second-half.
German eliminated Zambia via their first-half 4 – 0 lead.
From the foregoing it is clear that the current crop of national team players will need leaders like Zoom who inspire confidence when the chips are down – not leaders who see mountains everywhere.
After being eliminated from the COSAFA Cup in Namibia, we cannot afford to take anything for granted.
What is required now is for the new FAZ administration to get down to serious work to ensure Zambia qualified for Russia 2018 World Cup finals.
Luckily Ponga, who had accompanied his late father Dennis Liwewe to South Korea for the 1988 Olympic Games, is on the FAZ executive committee headed by Andrew Kamanga and will no doubt help reshape matters at Football House.
FAZ should consider as priority the re-establishment of Zambia Schools FA links with English FA under which youth teams like West Ham United and Nottingham Forest came to Zambia for a series of games.
Those matches contributed to the raising of football standards and produced top national team players like Richard Stephenson, Peter M’hango, Bernard Chanda and many others.
FAZ should also approach Government so that through its various embassies and high commissions in countries like the United States, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom (UK), Australia and Canada, selected Zambian players could be attached (for brief periods of say two to three weeks) to top clubs so that they could learn one or two new things that might prove helpful to the country in the long term.
All in all Zambia should feel inspired not only by what the Icelanders have done, but also the tenacious Italians who have ended holders, Spain’s run at Euro 2018 Championships.
They surely achieved their explicit goals through some careful and patient planning.
We can equally do the same whether Algeria, Cameroon and Nigeria are in the same so-called group of death with us.
We can certainly gun down the Desert Foxes, the Indomitable Lions and the Super Eagles because the name of the game is football.
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