Zambia’s under 23 team continue their bid to reach the London 2012 Olympics next month with a two-legged match against Algeria in CAF's second qualifying round. Having already beaten Rwanda 3-0 on aggregate in the first round, Zambia now travel to Algiers for the first game on June 3rd, the return being on June 18th in Chingola. The winners will qualify for the final group stage where eight teams will compete for four qualification places.
Zambia has competed in the Olympic football tournament twice before. At the 1980 games in Moscow they replaced Egypt who withdrew following the American-led political boycott and performed admirably in losing narrowly to Cuba (0-1) USSR (1-3) and Venezuela (1-2). Zambia’s greatest ever player and manager, the late Godfrey Chitalu, scored both his country’s goals in the tournament. The 1988 games in Seoul saw Zambia’s greatest ever achievements on the football field. After a 2-2 draw with Iran in their opening Group B game, the team then destroyed the mighty Italy 4-0 with a wonderful display of attacking football. Kalusha Bwalya, who was to finish as the tournament’s joint-second top goalscorer with six, led the way with a hat-trick, his namesake Johnson scoring the other goal. This scoreline was repeated in the final group match against Guatemala with Kalusha scoring a further two goals, a feat matched by his teammate, the late Derby Makinka. Kalusha’s performances in Seoul earned him a contract with reigning European champions, PSV Eindhoven.
Zambia was eventually eliminated at the quarter-final stage by West Germany, for whom Jurgen Klinsmann scored a hat-trick, but their wonderful football was undoubtedly the highlight of the tournament and marked the country’s arrival on the world football stage.
