27 replies to this topic

[Grand Ayatollah Dismantler]

Myth number one

Smaller Southern and East African teams cannot compete with West African teams on account of their smaller size. The Zambians (as Barcelona have done in Europe) showed that good technique and on the ball skills can compensate for smaller size. Zambia did not have a midfielder the size of Yaya Toure, Didier Zokora or Cheik Tiote. Yet they had a fair amount of possession and were a delight to watch with their neat passing triangles

Myth number two

The best teams are those with lots of professionals playing in Europe. This is a commonly held perception. The likes of Egypt are treated more as a unique exception (usually due to the fact that the likes of Al-Ahly dominate African Champions League or that the Arabs are somehow different). But for black African teams it has been commonly accepted that having a squad of players coming from FA Premier Ligue, La Liga and Lique 1 is proof of superiority. Yet Zambia only have one European based professional. Their squad is comprised of players plying their trade in South Africa, DRC and Zambia itself. The beat a team with players from Chelsea, Arsenal, Man City, PSG, Seville, Newcastle etc

Myth number three

Southern African players are not mentally strong. Just watching the Zambians taking those penalties says a lot about their character

Myth number four

Former players cannot make good administrators. Other than SA where we have people like Kaizer Motaung and Jomo Sono, football administration was generally seen as a preserve of businessmen and politicians. Football players we were told had not gone to school, could not speak good English blah blah blah. In Kalusha Bwalya we have our own Franz Beckenbauer, our own Michel Platini.

What can Zimbabwe learn from the Zambians???

[Kemestry]

This was chisled in stone GAD, stop your Phd type of analysis.

Midzimu midzimu midzimu!!!!!! What shona are you GAD

[mablazo]

Zambia have always produced good teams. What always hindered them was the capacity to hold on to leads and to last the whole 90 minutes. They have worked on that this time and it paid off

can Zimbabwe learn anything? yes, but we won't. we always want to break the wrong records

[Kemestry]

Midzimu chete!

'

[mablazo]

Kemestry, on 13 February 2012 - 08:04 AM, said:

Midzimu chete!

'

mudzimu unowirirana nechiJuda chako here iwe?  

[Kemestry]

What at about Juda now?

[Gudo]

I agree with you 100% GAD. It was especially nice to see the great Kalusha Bwalya celebrating with the Zambian players.

[golonice]

i think this should be the turning point in african footbll which should see shu shine football and creativity dominate, and the emergence os southern africa as the dominant force in african football, coz the usuall giants are all but finished

[TTT]

The biggest myth destroyed by Zambia and the Egyptian victories before them is that you need more than European based players to win the tournament. Zambia had 7 or so TP Mazembe players and they have been successful on the continent in recent times, the Egyptians had the Ahly players who were similarly successful on the continent. West African countries are increasingly having players who have never experienced the African game beyond some qualifiers at the junior level, most of their players' formative experience are in Europe. Individual brilliance has been put in the backseat once again.

Zimbabwe might learn something if we realized that the game is a team sport and we should be building good teams. I read Sharukos' take on Zambia and it had exactly the wrong prescriptions and focus on individual players that has been the bane of several West African teams like Nigera,Ghana and even CIV before this current generation. I also saw the team selected to play Burundi i think and i was surprised that Dickson Choto is still active.

[bluboiz]

Grand Ayatollah Dismantler, on 13 February 2012 - 07:38 AM, said:

Myth number one

Smaller Southern and East African teams cannot compete with West African teams on account of their smaller size. The Zambians (as Barcelona have done in Europe) showed that good technique and on the ball skills can compensate for smaller size. Zambia did not have a midfielder the size of Yaya Toure, Didier Zokora or Cheik Tiote. Yet they had a fair amount of possession and were a delight to watch with their neat passing triangles

Myth number two

The best teams are those with lots of professionals playing in Europe. This is a commonly held perception. The likes of Egypt are treated more as a unique exception (usually due to the fact that the likes of Al-Ahly dominate African Champions League or that the Arabs are somehow different). But for black African teams it has been commonly accepted that having a squad of players coming from FA Premier Ligue, La Liga and Lique 1 is proof of superiority. Yet Zambia only have one European based professional. Their squad is comprised of players plying their trade in South Africa, DRC and Zambia itself. The beat a team with players from Chelsea, Arsenal, Man City, PSG, Seville, Newcastle etc

Myth number three

Southern African players are not mentally strong. Just watching the Zambians taking those penalties says a lot about their character

Myth number four

Former players cannot make good administrators. Other than SA where we have people like Kaizer Motaung and Jomo Sono, football administration was generally seen as a preserve of businessmen and politicians. Football players we were told had not gone to school, could not speak good English blah blah blah. In Kalusha Bwalya we have our own Franz Beckenbauer, our own Michel Platini.

What can Zimbabwe learn from the Zambians???

actually IMHO Zambia had less pressure than C.I.V thoughout the whole tournament,meaning they could concerntrate more and play to there strengths where as C.I.V just seemed so tense and laboured in the final they was bound to lose, however if Zambia where playing the african arab's(egypt in particular) i can almost bet years wages they would not have prevailed

[Zva]

bluboiz, on 13 February 2012 - 11:07 PM, said:

actually IMHO Zambia had less pressure than C.I.V thoughout the whole tournament,meaning they could concerntrate more and play to there strengths where as C.I.V just seemed so tense and laboured in the final they was bound to lose, however if Zambia where playing the african arab's(egypt in particular) i can almost bet years wages they would not have prevailed

I think you are wrong here, Zambia had all the pressure, what with all the hype about winning it for their fallen heroes. Just look at how the guy who twisted his ankle cried on being substited!! The team carried a huge weight and burden of expectation for themselves and the whole country.
On the other hand CIV didnot have that much pressure (other than trying to avoid losing to a 'lowly' team).
I agree with you that playing Egypt would have been different and they would have 'probably'lost. The reason for that I think is because we all know that Egypt can use all manner of underhand tactics, from their players haggling with the referre non-stop, simulation, taunting your opponent, bossing you on the pitch. CIV to their credit didnt play on anyone's emotion, they didnt try to manipulate the referee or have their stars seek what I term over protection from the officials. They helped the game flow and make it a good exhibit of African football

[John Kachere]

Zva, on 14 February 2012 - 07:26 AM, said:

I think you are wrong here, Zambia had all the pressure, what with all the hype about winning it for their fallen heroes. Just look at how the guy who twisted his ankle cried on being substited!! The team carried a huge weight and burden of expectation for themselves and the whole country.
On the other hand CIV didnot have that much pressure (other than trying to avoid losing to a 'lowly' team).
I agree with you that playing Egypt would have been different and they would have 'probably'lost. The reason for that I think is because we all know that Egypt can use all manner of underhand tactics, from their players haggling with the referre non-stop, simulation, taunting your opponent, bossing you on the pitch. CIV to their credit didnt play on anyone's emotion, they didnt try to manipulate the referee or have their stars seek what I term over protection from the officials. They helped the game flow and make it a good exhibit of African football

As I watched the build up from RSA, I told myself I didnt want to be in the Zambia team's shoes in my life. Those guys were un der so much pressure I cant even believe they took those penalties with such calmness. Imagine going to that place with flowers, The 2 KKs arriving, Liwewe doing all those antics ... and then having to face CIV of all teams. No the lads are strong, very much stronger than me.

Drogba tried to manipulate the official. And that penalty for a foul "outside the box" was evidence of a referee in a dilemna.

BUT make no mistake the lads from Zambnia were under more pressure than the Ivorians. And m sure as Drogba reflects back he will know it was the right thing to miss that penalty being a patriot that he is he knows Zambia just had to take this Cup...

[Dancing Bear]

GAD I think Zambia broke those myths many years ago. As to mental strength, what more than coming to Harare after tragically losing most of their players in that disaster, and getting a result against all the odds. They not only stopped there but went to AFCON and got to the final....a game that could have gone either way. How many teams on this planet can do that? It's only in recent times that our Warriors have started to get results against Zambia, they have been consistently better than us for years till recently.

We have some serious issues in  our football. I think our football like many other sports, will improve once we get rid of ZANU PF's tentacles from the game. That clown Rushwaya was never shy to openly admit that she was just 'killing time' as ZIFA president and would give that up straight away once elected on a ZANU PF ticket. Look at the damage she has done to our football with all this Asiagate nonsense. The best and brightest talent our football has is now tainted by this crap. This is treason gentlemen.

[Chuck]

The Zambian victory over CIV was a one-off and it was bound to happen.
In a final, moreso one that goes to penalties, anything is possible.
I can bet you if Zambia played CIV ten more times, they will be lucky to get 2 victories.

CIV went all the way without conceding a goal and lost in a final where they did not concede.
They also did not take their chances as they created more than Zambia.
But fair play and congrats to Zambia for carrying the day.

[Grand Ayatollah Dismantler]

Dancing Bear, on 14 February 2012 - 12:19 PM, said:

GAD I think Zambia broke those myths many years ago. As to mental strength, what more than coming to Harare after tragically losing most of their players in that disaster, and getting a result against all the odds. They not only stopped there but went to AFCON and got to the final....a game that could have gone either way. How many teams on this planet can do that? It's only in recent times that our Warriors have started to get results against Zambia, they have been consistently better than us for years till recently.

We have some serious issues in  our football. I think our football like many other sports, will improve once we get rid of ZANU PF's tentacles from the game. That clown Rushwaya was never shy to openly admit that she was just 'killing time' as ZIFA president and would give that up straight away once elected on a ZANU PF ticket. Look at the damage she has done to our football with all this Asiagate nonsense. The best and brightest talent our football has is now tainted by this crap. This is treason gentlemen.

True that. However I seem to remember the Zambian team of 1994 of being comprised mainly of physically imposing players. Like Kalusha himself, Harrison Chongo, Elijah Litana, Kenneth Malitoli, Modon Malitoli, Gibby Mbasela, Zeddy Saileti and others. In the current team the players especially the midfield and attack were relatively slender players

[Mujambajecha]

The Zambian players were tiny compared to the Ivoriens. Did you see during the toss how much bigger Drogba was compared to Katongo. The only Zambian who is big is Sunzu

[golonice]

My best moments in that match were:

- first few minutes, that innovative corner kick taken by Zambia, well worked and just missed goal by a few millimetres. Most of their setpieces were very good

- their constant flicks and tricks in foward play from the Zambia team, it was very nice to see, you rarely see that nowadays especially in Europe

- Drogba missing peno   : to be honest , for zambia to win Drogba had to be fail, thats life.

- In the dying minutes of normal time, there was one brilliant flicked pass to Mayuka, Kolo Tuore saved the day. The pass was good.

And generally the humbleness of the Zambian team on the pitch, they didnt argue with any decision from ref, anything against them they just got on with it, exemplary behaviour


If Chipolopolo play like this in The Confederations 2013, they will do well, i hope they do against the big guns. SA put in a good show in the last Confederations with their nice passing game, they even gave Spain & Brazil a hard time, i dont see why Chipolopolo cant do better.

I think our southern african style of flowing football is here now.
I think SA played much better in the WC than any of Nigeria, Cameroon, CIV, SA would hold more possesion against teams like Uruguay and Mexico. They were just not that lethal up fron with that Mphela guy.

Hope at least 2 from SADC qualify for 2014

[Van-Bommel]

ZAMBIA WILL NOT BE AT THE CONFEDERATIONS CUP IN 2013!!!

Thankfully as Champions of the 2013 African Cup of Nations IVORY COAST will be Africa's representetive at the Tournament!

In as much as we all admire what Zambia have done,and acknowledge that they were the best team at the Tournament and deserved their title.They We also acknowledge that the Zambian nation deserves all the praises they are getting and they have done Southern Africa proud.We all love Zambia and wish them all the best in the future and hope they carry on the spirit.

HOWEVER...

It would be an absolute travesty to football and football fans across the world alike that Zambia that could even meet the likes of Brazil,Spain,Germany,Uruguay in the same competition!

In as much as we love Zambia,with all due respect only a Southern African could want to see the likes of Katonga,Kabanga and Katlego on the same pitch with Kaka,Xavi,Iniesta,Diego Forlan etc.For these reason it is only fitting that either Ghana,Cameroon,Ivory coast or Senegal take their rightful place at the throne of African Football!

Thank you!

[golonice]

nx i forgot that 2013 there another AFCON  

Zambia will hav to do it again

[mablazo]

Van-Bommel, on 15 February 2012 - 12:21 AM, said:

ZAMBIA WILL NOT BE AT THE CONFEDERATIONS CUP IN 2013!!!

Thankfully as Champions of the 2013 African Cup of Nations IVORY COAST will be Africa's representetive at the Tournament!

In as much as we all admire what Zambia have done,and acknowledge that they were the best team at the Tournament and deserved their title.They We also acknowledge that the Zambian nation deserves all the praises they are getting and they have done Southern Africa proud.We all love Zambia and wish them all the best in the future and hope they carry on the spirit.

HOWEVER...

It would be an absolute travesty to football and football fans across the world alike that Zambia that could even meet the likes of Brazil,Spain,Germany,Uruguay in the same competition!

In as much as we love Zambia,with all due respect only a Southern African could want to see the likes of Katonga,Kabanga and Katlego on the same pitch with Kaka,Xavi,Iniesta,Diego Forlan etc.For these reason it is only fitting that either Ghana,Cameroon,Ivory coast or Senegal take their rightful place at the throne of African Football!

Thank you!

you don't know what you are talking about. Zambia can play against any team and it won't be the first time. they were the first team to give a real crack at the Olympics before your Cameroons and Nigerias. Nothing new there