African Sports Monthly January 2013 Issue | Page 14

Zambia’s achievement was sweet redemption for a football team and a nation that
had suffered a major loss off the coast of Gabon 19 years back when an entire plane
full of players comprising the entire Zambian squad crashed with everyone perishing
on that

Zambian Squad paying homage to their lost comrades on the shores of Gabon
fateful flight and it also gave football one of its greatest stories of the year in Football
on the continent when Stopilla Sunzu stepped up to score the winning penalty against
the Elephants of the Ivory Coast.
This Zambians winning the 2012 AFCON was such a Cinderella tale that even the
man behind the team’s success, French coach Herve Renard believed their success
was ordained by God to a point that even a star filled Ivory Coast squad were powerless to change the course of destiny. A vivid justification for this belief that their success was ordained by God became even more glaring when Ivory Coast star striker
and idol, Didier Drogba had a glorious chance to win the game after 70 minutes but
blazed his penalty way over the bar.

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