Although Zambia is constitutionally a Christian nation, the national religion is football (or soccer to my North American friends). So, fittingly, last Sunday, the whole nation was at worship before the Shrine of ZNBC. The occasion was Zambia's first game in the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations, Africa's premier football championship being contested in Egypt by the continent's 16 leading footballing nations.
It was, once again, another glorious defeat by Zambia. Our opponents were Tunisia. We received a 4-1 drubbing at their merciless hands (or, more accurately, feet). Tunisia played well, very well; they will be a handful for any team in the World Cup coming up later this year. Quite against the initial run of play, Zambia snatched the first goal in the 9th minute through James Chamanga, a pacy and skillful striker who, along with the goalkeeper George Kolala, was a revelation in this game. It was as though the prayers of all the faithful had been answered. Unfortunately, it was not to last. I think it's fair to say that after that Tunisia dominated the game, scoring an equaliser in the 36th minute, and then three further goals in the second half, although, ironically, we played better in the second half. Ho hum. As I said, it was another glorious defeat. Our next game is on Thursday against Guinea. If we lose that game, we're pretty much sunk and the collective pronoun in the nation's speech will shift imperceptibly from "we" to "they". Sorry boys, if you don't perform, you're on your own.
But we live in hope. Such is the masochistic lot of the Zambian football fan(atic).
I've been impressed with the quality of the football in the championship. African football has certainly come a long way. I'm sure fans all over the world are enjoying this feast of football. No wonder MTN, the mobile communications giant with global aspirations but (so far) a largely pan-African footprint, seized the opportunity to sponsor the competition. It'll do their global brand recognition a power of good.
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