adminAll 25 passengers and five crew members, who were on their way to Dakar for the 1994 World Cup qualifier against Senegal, were killed. The team that perished is still regarded as the best ever Chipolopolo side.
The current Zambian side has vowed to put on a performance worthy of honouring the team that perished in 1993 and for Bwalya, a credible outing by Chipolopolo would go a long way to ease the pain of losing his team-mates. Bwalya was not aboard the ill-fated flight as he had made separate arrangements to fly to Dakar after playing for PSV Eindhoven in Holland.
Bwalya says: “The target is to go beyond the quarter-finals. We are not going to Gabon for a holiday but to make our country proud,” said the former Chipolopolo captain.
Zambian midfielder Isaac Chansa added to Bwalya’s optimism saying: “There has been a tremendous improvement in the team compared to the one we had in Angola. Our players are more experienced, we are more exposed to international football. That improvement must also reflect on the field of play. Our target is to go beyond the semi-finals.
“The last time Zambia won a medal at the Africa Cup of Nations was in Johannesburg in 1996 when we beat Ghana 1-0 in a third place play-off. We want to honour the team that perished in Gabon by doing well in this tournament,” said Chansa. Chipolopolo is in Group A with co-hosts Equatorial Guinea, Libya and Senegal and will kick start their campaign against Senegal on 21 January.
Meanwhile Chelsea’s 16-year-old prodigy Bertrand Traore, yet to play a senior club match, was named in Burkina Faso’s African Nations Cup squad yesterday.
A member of the London club’s academy since mid-2010, midfielder Traore won a first cap for Burkina Faso in a friendly in September.
If he features in his country’s opening game of the Nations Cup against Angola in Malabo on 22 January he will become the third youngest player ever at the finals.
The record was set at the 2000 finals by Ghana’s Shiva Star Nzigou, who was 16 years, two months and 30 days old when he took to the field against South Africa in Kumasi, Ghana, and scored.
Former Inter Milan striker Mohamed Kallon was 15 when he first played in the qualifiers and aged 16 years, three months and nine days old when he came on as a substitute in Sierra Leone’s first game at the 1996 finals in South Africa.
Traore was included alongside brother Alain, who plays at AJ Auxerre in France, in the squad list released by the Burkinabe Football Federation.
Coach Paulo Duarte added Maltese-based fullback Saidou Mady Panandetiguiri and striker Prejuce Nakoulma of Polish club Gornik Zabrze to the squad at the last moment after injuries.
The tournament in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon gets underway on 21 January.
Afcon 2012 qualifying round fixtures
21/01/2012 GUINEA EQ. vs. LIBYA, , 19:30, SENEGAL vs. ZAMBIA 22:00
22/01/2012 COTE D’IVOIRE vs. SUDAN, 17:00, BURKINA FASO vs. ANGOLA 20:00
23/01/2012 GABON vs. NIGER, 17:00 MOROCCO vs. TUNISIA 20:00
24/01/2012 GHANA vs. BOTSWANA 17:00, MALI vs. GUINEA 20:00
25/01/2012 LIBYA vs. ZAMBIA 17:00, GUINEA EQ. vs. SENEGAL 20:00
26/01/2012 SUDAN vs. ANGOLA 17:00, COTE D’IVOIRE vs. BURKINA FASO 20:00
27/01/2012 NIGER vs. TUNISIA 17:00, GABON vs. MOROCCO 20:00
28/01/2012 BOTSWANA vs. GUINEA 17:00, GHANA vs. MALI 20:00
29/01/2012 GUINEA EQ. vs. ZAMBIA 19H:00 LIBYA vs. SENEGAL 19:00
30/01/2012 SUDAN vs. BURKINA FASO 19:00, COTE D’IVOIRE vs. ANGOLA 19:00
31/01/2012 GABON vs. TUNISIA 19:00, NIGER vs. MOROCCO 19:00
01/02/2012 BOTSWANA vs. MALI 19:00, GHANA vs. GUINEA—Cafonline
Online Reporter