Zambia coach carries injured player to celebrations

Zambia coach carries injured player to celebrations

Zambia coach carries injured player to celebrations, Inspiring coach carries injured player, African Cup of Nations - Herve Renard was determined not to let one of his stars miss out on the African Cup of Nations celebrations. There was hardly a dry eye in the house on Sunday when Zambia won the African Cup of Nations in Gabon, almost 20 years after their national team was killed in an air crash in the country.

But a moment of humanity and thoughtfulness from coach Herve Renard heightened those feelings still further.

Zambia beat Ivory Coast in an epic penalty shoot-out - and in the excitement of the victory the entire squad rushed on to the pitch to celebrate in a huge circle, the players' arms around each other.

One man was left out of those celebrations, however: Joseph Musonda, one of the key members of the team, who had limped off the pitch 11 minutes into the final with an ankle injury. He had been left bandaged up and unable to walk.

Frenchman Renard refused to let one of his chief lieutenants miss out on the fun: he picked up the veteran midfielder and ran on to the pitch to deliver him to his team-mates so that he could revel in his nation's moment of glory.

The heart-warming scene prompted memories of Derek Redmond being helped over the line by his father at the 1992 Olympics, or US gymnastics coach Bela Karolyi carrying Kerri Strug on to the podium to collect gold four years later.

After the match, Renard paid tribute to the players who died in the 1993 disaster which claimed 18 of Zambia's international squad.

Renard called the 18 a "silent force", while victorious players explained the importance of honouring their dead compatriots, whose plane went down not far from the Libreville stadium where Zambia won the African Nations Cup against the much-fancied Ivory Coast side which included Premier League stars such as Didier Drogba.

"It was very emotional and the memory of the players who died here played a big part," said Zambia midfielder Isaac Chansa.

"Once they said the final would be held in Gabon, we said 'this is ours this time around'. It was written somewhere, you can see that from the miss of Drogba."

Ivory Coast's captain squandered a penalty 20 minutes from time to allow Zambia to force the game into extra time and go on to win 8-7 on penalties at the end of a thrilling encounter.

"The players who were killed in the plane crash in Gabon were what was behind us and what was driving us through the tournament," said goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene.

"We did not want to go home empty-handed."

Zambia's victorious squad left in a chartered plane for home on Monday, departing from the same airport where a Zambia air force plane had refuelled on its way to Senegal for a World Cup qualifier in March 1993, and then exploded shortly after take off.

The 18 players killed made up a highly-rated national squad, with high hopes of qualifying for the 1994 World Cup, although leading forward Kalusha Bwalya was not on the flight as he was scheduled to join the team in Senegal after travelling directly from his Dutch club PSV Eindhoven.

Bwalya subsequently became the symbol of the rebuilding of Zambian football and is now the national football association president. His influence was evident as the players mobbed him on Sunday when he joined them in the post-match celebrations.

"There is no one who feels it more strongly than Kalusha," said Renard. "He has lived through it all these years."

Bwalya had spoken briefly to his players in the dressing-room after Sunday's win but hid his emotion, Chansa said. "But we knew what he was feeling."

Renard said the symbolism of the final in Gabon had proved a powerful spur.

"Perhaps we were lucky in the draw when all our matches were scheduled in Equatorial Guinea," Renard said of the neighbouring country that co-hosted the Nations Cup.

"The only way we could have got to Gabon was to play in the final and this focused the players. They wanted to come and honour their fallen comrades."

Just before leaving Libreville, winger Felix Katongo said: "We wanted to win the trophy to make the Zambian people proud and so those who died may rest in peace. Now their souls are at peace."

via: yahoo