By Walter Wilson Nana
The very upbeat Zambian keeper, Kennedy Mweene has said he is not losing any sleep about confronting Ivory Coast and Chelsea forward, Didier Drogba in the Sunday, February 12 Orange AFCON Final slated for Stade de l’Amitie in Libreville, Gabon.
Mweene is Zambia's last line of defence against a Drogba-led Ivorian attacking machinery that has already scored nine times at the 2012 Cup in their five match unbeaten run to the final. Zambia has also scored nine goals and conceded three, while the keeper of the Elephants of Ivory Coast, Boubacar Barry is yet to pick the ball from his net.
Yet Mweene, appearing at a press conference at the team hotel recently, hardly appeared to be shaking in his boots at coming up against the Chelsea giant. "Drogba, no, I don't feel any more pressure. The coach Herve Renard has helped us to keep cool, whether it's a big or small game. He has done a lot with us mentally, I'm not shaking about Drogba, it's just one of those games. There's no panic," he told journalists.
The 27-year-old was instrumental in Zambia's 1-0 semifinal defeat of Ghana on Wednesday, February 8 2012, guessing correctly to dive to his left to save Asamoah Gyan's early penalty. "That was the most important save of my life," Mweene, who is attached to South Africa side Free State Stars, reflected. "It's helped to give me confidence ahead of the final," he added.
Zambia captain Christopher Katongo made the point that beating one of the competition favourites in their semi has helped his teammates discard any sense of stage fright against the star-studded Elephants. "The young players learned something against Ghana, not to fear big names. It's just 11 players against 11 out on the greenturf, they've picked that up from the Black Stars victory. I talked with the coach before the Ghana game, saying nobody knows us, we have to beat the big teams to gain recognition. If we want to be at the summit we need to defeat the giants. The Ivory Coast are on top, they are favourites, but I think this is our moment," he noted.
Katongo said one of the keys to Zambia's progress to the final had come from Egypt, the champions in 2006, when they beat the Ivorians in the title showdown in Cairo, 2008, and 2010.
"We've seen from the Egyptians the importance of team spirit, they didn't have any huge individual stars but collectively proved that spirit can get you far. That's one of the reasons why we've done so well here," the captain of the Chipolopolo mentioned.
The form book suggests Zambia face a mountain to climb on Sunday, February 12 but Copper Bullets manager Renard says he likes heights. Hear him; "When I see a mountain I want to climb to the top of it, that's what we'll be doing on Sunday."
Zambia had emerged "from under the radar" said coach Herve Renard, who has shown clever tactical planning at key moments in the tournament.
On Thursday, February 9 on their arrival in Libreville, Zambia paid their respects to their fallen comrades who perished in the April 27 1993 air crash off the coast of Gabon.
Katongo, reflecting on that simple but moving ceremony and its significance to the 2012 national team, said: "We want to finish what they started, we're here to dry the tears shed for our comrades by the Zambian people. Their memory is always fresh with us, we think about them every time we play a game." "We have to take this cup, this is an opportunity," added captain Christopher Katongo. "This is the greatest moment ever a player can have to play in the final. It doesn't come every day."
On their part, the current crop of Ivorian players, christened the ‘golden generation’ are one game away from their consecration as African football's best team after progressing efficiently to Sunday's African Nations Cup final, but must still get past dangerous Zambia.
After several successive tournaments in which they failed to live up to predictions of glory, the Ivorians start as huge favourites to win the AFCON in Libreville.
Zambia themselves exceeded expectations in reaching the final with a largely unknown squad, only one of whom plays at a European club, Emmanuel Mayuka, who trades his football skills in Bern, Switzerland.