Chris Katongo
This weekend will see the first legs of the final stage of the AFCON 2013 Qualifiers take place. The tournament is to be hosted in South Africa after agreeing to swop their 2017 hosting rights with Libya, where the civil war is rife, in order to give them more time to prepare.
For the first time since 1990, all the qualifying matches will be played on a knockout basis without any group action because of the short time between the 2012 finals and 2013 competition. The first round of the qualifying stages saw 28 teams who did not qualify for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations play over two-legged home and away knock-out ties. The 14 winners from there have joined the 16 teams who played in the 2012 AFCON and the 15 winners from the final knock-out stage will join hosts South Africa who earned automatic qualification.
The biggest draw sees Africa’s number one ranked team Ivory Coast face 2002 World Cup quarter-finalists Senegal on Friday. Reigning AFCON champions Zambia take on Uganda in another intriguing encounter on Saturday.
Uganda will be aiming to end the 35-year wait for the Cranes to qualify for the finals of the continent’s biggest soccer tournament. They last featured at the AFCON in 1978 in Ghana where they finished runners-up to the Black Stars. These teams last met in August 2010 in an international friendly in Uganda, which ended 1-1.
Zambia are now ranked ninth on the continent after etching their name in Africa’s football history by winning AFCON 2012 against all expectations. They defeated a star-studded Ivory Coast team 8-7 in a penalty shoot-out, honouring the memory of the 1993 plane crash off the Gabon coast that wiped out one of their most promising national squads. Since that triumph Zambia have played two World Cup Qualifiers in June. They lost 2-0 away to Sudan but restored their pride with a 1-0 home win over African giants Ghana. The Zambian public is delighted with the new look squad which includes young emerging talents and excluded older players that were not performing. Skipper Christopher Katongo signed off for international duty with a goal for his Chinese club, Henan Jianye’s 2-1 victory over Shandong Luneng in a game he and his Chipolopolo teammate Isaac Chansa played 90 minutes.
To reach this final round of qualifying, Uganda overcame Congo 5-3 on aggregate. They lost 3-1 in Congo but in the return leg dished out a 4-0 thrashing. Uganda coach, Bobby Williamson is desperately plotting to design a strategy that will make up for the absence of injured key strikers, Geoffrey Massa and Brian Umony. The Cranes embarked on a rigorous training programme aimed at improving the fitness levels under the sweltering temperatures in Kampala last Friday. During their build-up to the 2014 World Cup qualifier against Angola in June, fitness was a major concern for Williamson. Uganda have earned two valuable points in those World Cup Qualifiers, drawing 1-1 away to Angola and earning another point at home against Senegal with the same scoreline. Zambia will have the all important home advantage but the Ugandans have proved they can be a solid unit. The draw is tipped.
