An excerpt from the book 'The Zambian Game'
A few days later we made the trip from Seoul and arrived in Kwanju for Zambia’s second match. Italy were a strong side built around top Serie A players from AC Milan and Juventus. Stefano Tacconi was Juventus’ first choice goalkeeper and second choice for the senior side. Ciro Ferrara later became a stalwart also for Juventus and Italy. Angelo Colombo, Andrea Carnevale, and Pietro Paulo Virdis were all household names in European football. What hope would little Zambia have in such illustrious company?
Closer scrutiny revealed, however, that they stood a fighting chance.
The average age of the Zambian team was about twenty-five and virtually all the players were at the peak of their game. Efford Chabala had manned the posts since 1983 and, in the process, become one of the best goalkeepers on the continent. The defence, however, was the Achilles heel of the team. Ashios Melu, the converted striker from Mufulira Wanderers, was comfortable on the ball but occasionally his defensive frailties were exposed. Samuel Chomba had emerged from the Kabwe Warriors side that had taken the league by storm in 1987 but was still relatively inexperienced at this level.
The right back, James Chitalu, also of Kabwe Warriors, was physically strong but not very comfortable on the ball, an essential trait at this level. Edmond Mumba, from Mutondo Stars, was a decent enough player but not very adept at defending and would later be found out as the tournament progressed.
In the middle, Derby Makinka played the holding role and made forward runs when Zambia were on the attack, utilising his shooting power to great effect. Charles Musonda of Belgian club, Anderlecht, was the key player in the middle of the park. He provided the ammunition for the forward players with his incisive passing and great vision that enabled him to dictate the pace of the match . On the right, the powerful but diminutive Johnson Bwalya, who played his football in Switzerland, was a handful for any defence with his powerful running down the flank. He had made his international debut a year before, in 1987, and become an instant hero with his swashbuckling style. In the qualifiers he had worked fantically to ensure Zambia's qualification against Ghana, playing a dual role as winger and improvised defender, covering the ground of two men as Ghana pushed forward in search of the goal that would have levelled the tie.
On the left flank was the Power Dynamos midfielder, Wisdom Chansa, a versatile player who always gave one hundred percent. Operating chiefly as a left-sided midfielder, he provided strength and support, though playing out of position, and took to the task with characteristic endeavour. The attack was lead by Stone Nyirenda, the prolific striker who had moved to Belgium a year before. Earlier in his career he had struggled to make his mark at Power Dynamos where he was never given an opportunity but once he made a move to Nchanga Rangers, he quickly established a reputation as a free-scoring striker. His goals-to-games ratio is probably one of the best in Zambian football history. Before his departure for Belgium he scored enough goals in three months in 1987, twenty-six in total, to see him still leading the scorers chart at the end of the season six months later.
Kalusha Bwalya was the final piece in the jigsaw. His time at Cercle Brugge in Belgium had seen him evolve from a dribbling wizard, eluding defenders down the left flank, into an incisive second striker with license to roam wherever he pleased. In him, Zambia had a player capable of playing in any side in the world. A star from the age of seventeen at Mufulira Wanderers, he played down the left while his elder brother Benjamin dazzled defenders down the right with equal dexterity.
The events that followed still seem incredulous to this day. After an initial spell of Italian pressure in which the ‘Azzuri’ came close to scoring on several occasions, Zambia settled into their quick-passing game and much to the joy of the Korean fans and travelling Zambian contingent, took the lead when Kalusha, breaking free down the left, hit a wicked shot on the run that Tacconi could only palm into the back of the net.
I was instantly on my feet, forgetting the neutrality demanded by my commentary role as Zambia took the lead. If I was overjoyed, my dad was ecstatic. Wearing an African shirt with lions emblazoned on front and back, his high-speed commentary and animated reactions soon attracted the attention of the television directors and to my discomfort, a TV crew was dispatched to the commentary area to film this.
The teams went in at halftime with the score still 1-0 in Zambia’s favour. I pulled out my camera and took a photograph of the scoreboard, determined to keep a record of the moment, and certain that the expected Italian onslaught in the second half would soon restore normal service and Italy would eventually win the day.
In the second half Zambia were determined not to lose the initiative and continued to take the game to Italy, playing neat passing moves and retaining possession for long periods as the Italians sought to win the ball back. A goal down, Italy were forced to abandon their traditionally cautious approach and increasingly began to push forward. In doing so they left themselves exposed at the back and as Zambia's confidence grew they probed the Italian defence with increasing regularity. Italy then suffered the ignominy of conceding a second goal and it came from the screaming right foot of Johnson Bwalya, a ferocious shot that took a slight deflection along the way and looped over the stranded Tacconi.
Thereafter Zambia were in the driving seat and Italy's frustration began to mount. The third goal was pure class. Kalusha was brought down on the edge of the eighteen-yard box and took the free kick himself. From a tight angle on the left it seemed the only option available to him was to curl a cross into the box for the lurking Nyirenda. With the wall covering the left side and Tacconi covering the right, he curled the ball round the wall where he had spotted the tiniest of gaps. A startled Tacconi could only watch it go in. At 3-0, Zambia were in total control and Italy became increasingly cynical in their play, fouling incessantly when the referee was unsighted. Chikabala, coming on as a substitute, was viciously elbowed by Virdis but to his credit kept his cool.
Italy's humiliation was crowned when Zambia scored a fourth. It came minutes before the end when Charles Musonda played a defence-splitting pass that put Kalusha through. As Tacconi came off his line to narrow the angle, Kalusha calmly slotted the ball through his legs and celebrated with a shrug of his shoulders. It was his third goal of the match and Zambia's fourth.
The Zambian fans in the Kwanju stadium went wild and sang without respite much to the amusement of the watching Koreans. Leaving the commentary position, I made my way to the dressing room where I went over to Wisdom and gave him a congratulatory hug before going over to the rest of the team and congratulating them. It was without doubt the greatest display I had seen by a Zambian team and one that would only be matched many years later in vastly different circumstances.
(CREDIT: Ponga Liwewe)
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