CHIPOLOPOLO 1988 SEOUL OLYMPICS
CHIPOLOPOLO 1988 SEOUL OLYMPICS
The games that started on the 17th of September 1988 are known to be one of the most memorable in Zambian football.
The Chipolopolo’s dream of playing at the tournament started with a 3 round qualification process where they met Botswana in the first round recording a 0-7 aggregate victory after beating them 0-4 in the first leg, with goals coming from Simukonda, Kazika, Msiska and Makinka; 3-0 in the second leg with goals from Melu x2 and Nyirenda. In the second round, the Chipolopolo met Uganda whom they beat with a 2-6 aggregate victory after first losing 2-1in the first leg with Melu scoring Zambia’s goal, the Chipolopolo then went on to overturn the score-line beating Uganda 5-0 at home with an own goal, Siame and Nyirenda both getting a brace each. In the final round Zambia faced off against Ghana whom they beat with a 2-1 aggregate score-line after securing a 2-0 victory via goals from Chansa and K. Bwalya at home then going on to lose 1-0 away, with that score the Chipolopolo secured qualification and thus the dream was realized.
At the tournament, Zambia started their campaign against Iraq and the match ended in a 2-2 draw via goals from Nyirenda and K. Bwalya. The Chipolopolo’s second game at the tournament turned out to be one for the books as Zambia beat Italy 4-0 with K. Bwalya grabbing a famous hattrick and Johnson Bwalya scoring a screamer after some neat trickery. The third game at the Olympics was a resounding victory against Guatemala with a 4-0 beating, this time around Makinka and K. Bwalya both bagging a brace each. With the string of results achieved Zambia qualified to the Quarter Finals top of the group, scoring 10 goals and a total of 7 points from a possible 9 points. However, like all good stories the journey had to come to an end and it did, in the quarter final against Jurgen Klinsman’s Germany with a 4-0 defeat in a game which saw Klinsman get a hattrick.
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