AFCON 1996 COPPER BULLETS
The AFCON tournament in 1996 was quite memorable even though Zambia did not emerge victorious. The tournament was the 20th edition, hosted by South Africa who replaced initial hosts Kenya. It comprised of 16 teams divided into 4 groups with the top 2 going through to the quarterfinals, however, Nigeria withdrew due to political pressure leaving only 15 teams. Zambia’s exploits at the tournament begin enjoy.
At the tournament Zambia was drawn in the same group as Algeria, Sierra Leone and Burkina Faso; with their first game coming against the desert foxes whom they produced a stalemate with as the game ended 0-0. The second game came against Burkina Faso whom they beat resoundingly with a 5-1 scoreline, the goals coming from Kenneth “Bubble” Malitoli, Kalusha “Great Kalu” Bwalya who bagged a brace, Dennis Lota and the ever-lively Johnson Bwalya therefore recording the largest victory at the tournament. The third and final group stage match was against Sierra Leone whom they brushed aside with a 4-0 victory; with only two goal scorers as Kalusha Bwalya grabbed a hattrick and Kenneth Malitoli getting the other goal. With that string of results, Zambia made it through to the quarterfinals top of the group with a total of 7 points from 2 wins and 1 draw out of 3 games; in which they scored 9 goals and only conceded 1.
In the quarterfinals Zambia came up against Egypt whom they also brushed aside with a 3-1 beating after executing a second half comeback when the first half ended in favour of the North Africana, the goals were scored by Elijah Litana, Vincent Mutale and Dennis Lota thus completing the comeback, that meant Zambia progressed to the semi-finals were they locked horns with Tunisia.
In the semi-finals against Tunisia, Zambia’s progression was halted as they were on the receiving end of a 2-4 loss with their goals coming from Dennis Lota and Hillary Makasa. The semi-final lost wasn’t the end of Zambia’s tournament as they met the victim from the other semi-final who was Ghana whom they beat 1-0 thanks to a second half goal from Johnson Bwalya which meant that Zambia ended the AFCON 1996 in third place behind eventual winners South Africa and Runners-up Tunisia.
Zambia at the tournament finished with a total of 16 goals scored and 6 goals conceded making them the team that scored the most goals at the tournament. Furthermore, our very own Kalusha Bwalya beat the likes of Abedi Pele to the Top Goal Scorer award with 5 goals to his name as well as Best Player and made an appearance in the CAF Team Of the Tournament as a forward together with Elijah Litana who appeared as a central defender.
