Zambia: from tragedy to glory in two decades

There is a macabre relationship between soccer and aerial tragedies.

In the collective memory, as iconic examples of misfortune, appear that of

in Superga of 1949, that of

in Munich of 1958 or the most recent of

in Colombia of 2016. But there are more, many more to come. throughout history.

And one of the most shocking was the one that occurred off the coast of Gabon on April 27, 1993. The Zambian national team was traveling to Senegal on a F plane.

Armed forces of the country, with three scheduled stops.

After the second of them, shortly after taking off from Libreville (Gabon), the plane collapsed, killing 30 people, including 18 of the national team players. That story is now recovered by the documentary Eighteam, a play on words between the 18 (eighteen in English) players who died and the word team (team).

But the implication of the number goes beyond the misfortune, as narrated in the production that RakutenTV offers free and exclusively from Thursday, and that ends with Zambia lifting the 2012 Africa Cup: 18 years after the tragedy and after the taking of 18 penalties against the Ivory Coast by Drogba, Yaya and Kolo Touré, Kalou, Eboué, Gervinho ... The connecting link of history is

, star of the 1993 team that dodged misfortune because he played in the

and he was traveling to Senegal on a different flight than his companions.

“The games of that team are still remembered in Zambia.

Many may not even see them on television, but everyone is going to tell you that they remember them, "explains Bwalya to this newspaper by video call from South Africa, where he resides. That team had shocked the world by defeating Italy 4-0 in the

.

In 1993, they were preparing to take Zambia to the first World Cup in their history until misfortune befell them.

The promised success was slow to come, but the miracle was about to occur just a year later.

Zambia had to contest the 1994 Africa Cup with a completely new team, already without their best players and under the captaincy of Bwalya, but managed to reach the final against Nigeria of

,

Y

barely less than a year after the Libreville tragedy “I will never thank the guys who came to the national team enough then.

They were players who had been discarded the previous years and asked to take the place of those who died.

They had to be very strong, it was something very emotional for everyone, ”Bwalya recalls about those footballers who concentrated for six weeks in Denmark to get to know each other and build a competitive team.

No one was counting on them to do great things in that championship, but they made it to the final: "We were better than Nigeria, but they beat us." Zambia's great success was slow to come, but it finally did, 18 years after that tragedy in which 18 footballers died.

The Chipolopolo (Copper Bullets) were also not favorites for the 2012 Africa Cup, but they were advancing rounds.

, now retired and having been a coach, was then the president of the federation.

Until the semi-finals, Zambia had played all its matches in Equatorial Guinea, but the final was played in Gabon, in Libreville, at the place of misfortune. Before the final, the entire Zambian expedition approached the coast to pay tribute to the died in the 1993 accident. Then came the big game against Ivory Coast.

During the meeting,

he missed a penalty and everything was left for the final round.

The two teams scored their first six penalties.

In the seventh, both pitchers missed.

In the eighth, again two hits.

In the ninth, Ivory Coast failed and

he had glory in his boots in the 18th shot.

It marked him, unleashing in Zambia an immense joy and also a heartfelt memory for the deceased.

Especially that of

: «It is not something you forget at a given moment, it is something that lives with you forever.

It was my team, my friends, my best friends.

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