Zambia wins AFCON!

Most Americans, unless huge soccer fans, have probably not heard about the African Cup of Nations (AFCON), but now that our Peace Corps host country has won the AFCON, Gina and I will keep it on our list of favorite sports for now on.  Watching the AFCON is similar to watching NFL playoffs in America.  The games are weekly (approx.), there is a lot of hype before the game, people buy and display all kinds of fan-based merchandise, and everyone wants to be somewhere for the game.  Since late on Sunday the 12th of February, the game has been replayed on the sports channels over and over.   Zambia was not considered a real contender to win at the beginning of the AFCON (if someone had bet that Zambia was going to win before it started they would have won 40 times the amount of money they bet).  They reached the AFCON final in 1974 and 1994 but lost.  In 1993, on their way to a qualification game, 18 players died in a plane crash.  The remembrance of that tragedy allowed a lot of sympathy for this underdog team,while the favored Ivory Coast team was described as "star-studded".  It is hard to describe the excitement in Zambia on the day of the game.  As Gina and I wore our fake Zambian jerseys around Lusaka on game day, people would honk at us and shout with glee "You are supporters"! This game was classically exciting.  Late in the game after no goals were scored, Ivory Coast got a free kick on goal due to a foul.  The team's star player, Drogba, missed the goal completely (a little high), giving Zambia a second chance to score in regulation time. Their were power problems which caused the game to go black for about 10 minutes on 2 different occasions during the match, getting people even more rowdy and excited.  After extra stoppage time at the end of the second half, an extra 30 minutes because of a draw at the end of regulation time, and extra stoppage time at the end of the extra time, the game had to be decided by sudden-death free kicks.  Both teams had successful free kicks for 7 rounds.  On the 8th, Ivory Coast, kicking first, had their free kick blocked by Zambia's goal keeper who made big plays all night (Mweene), so everyone was sure that Zambia would make the reply kick and win.  But, Ivory Coast's goal keeper denied Zambia's kick, putting everyone on the edge of their seat or standing at attention, alternately praying and shouting for Zambia to win.  In the 9th round, Zambia's keeper shone brightly again by blocking Ivory Coast's kick, but Zambia was able to answer that with a goal, winning their first ever AFCON, and setting Zambia in a "love-your-country" frenzy for the next 24 hrs.  I must have been hugged 7 times by strangers as I walked out of the bar we were in, and high-fived everyone else with whom I had eye contact.
As a cultural note, the game is watched a little differently in Zambia than in America, the closest comparison I think being Super Bowl Sunday.  Instead of actually watching the half-time show, for example, Zam-pop music is played really loud and people dance around their tables or on the tiny dance floor.  Food does not appear to be a big draw, but beer is.  And there are very few commercials.  The only time I saw them was at the end of the 1st half and beginning of the 2nd (after the drowned-out half-time show).  Though the stadium was packed for the final game, the playoff games had practically empty stadiums.  I never figured out if that is because the prices are so high or if there were security issues at the stadium, but it was really odd for whatever reason to see empty stadiums during playoff games when in the U.S. it is difficult to get tickets for any playoff games unless you plan years in advance.
The next day the whole city of Lusaka was preparing for the return of the team.  People lined the road all the way from the airport to Lusaka (about 10 km) to get a glimpse of the team as they perched on a flatbed truck and waved to people the whole way.  Gina and I shared in that, but decided the center of town was too crazy to attempt to see the music and speeches in the city's fairgrounds.  By Tuesday things seemed to be mostly back to normal, but Zambia will be able to boast about their AFCON win for at least the next two years until the next one, and I hope to be watching Zambia in that battle, too.