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Drogba turns villain as Zambia pull off huge upset

Comment: 0 February 13th, 2012 by: admin

IT WAS a loss that would haunt Didier Drogba and a win that Zambia would savour for a long time.

In a David-versus-Goliath final in the African Nations Cup on Sunday, Zambia pulled off a dramatic feat, downing heavily-favoured Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties to win their first title in the tournament.

The victory was a bitter-sweet one for the Zambians who hoisted banners remembering their side who perished in a plane crash near the venue – the Friendship Stadium in Libreville, Gabon – in 1993.

Drogba would have been the hero for the Ivorians had he not flubbed a penalty in the 70^th minute. And there would have been no nervy penalty shootouts. Instead he turned to goat.

His misfiring brought back bitter memories for the striker who also missed during the 2006 final when they lost to Egypt 5-3 on penalties.

Defender Stoppila Zunzu hit the winning penalty after Gervinho shot wide and Zambia went on to celebrate what would be the most famous victory in their country’s history.

Another Premier League player – Kolo Toure – also missed in the shootout to compound the woes of Ivory Coast who have been tipped to lift the crown in the last four stagings but flopped each time.

A crowd of 40,000 rooted mainly for the underdogs as the star-studded Ivorians failed to throw their weight around from the outset.

A jubilant Zambia coach Herve Renard said he can’t explain why they won, adding he felt there was a special force when his team played.

His counterpart, Francois Zahoui, said they did not play well. “It is a huge disappointment, we had expected a different outcome.”

Zambia goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene summed up his team’s triumph: “We told ourselves we would not be scared of them. We knew we had the team to win this and we wanted to make sure we did.”

After a 0-0 stalemate at the end of 120 minutes, the seventh final of the event to be decided on penalties shaped up.

Drogba went to the spot after midfielder Isaac Chansa brought down Gervinho. It could have been a different story but the Chelsea striker and Ivory Coast captain sent his shot well over.

Zambia had lost in the 1974 and 1994 finals before finally bringing home the bacon.

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