OWN CORRESPONDENT, Lagos | Monday 1.20pm.
VETERAN Zambian star Kalusha Bwalya will finally bid farewell to the African Nations Cup unless his team defeat Senegal on Tuesday in a Group C match.
Surprise packets Senegal enter the last-round showdown with a two-point advantage over their opponents and a draw will take them into the knockout stages.
Tradition favours Zambia with two victories and a draw in three previous clashes at the biennial African football showcase and form favours Senegal, who gave defending champions Egypt numerous frights before losing.
Preparations of both teams were not helped when the plane carrying them from the northern city of Kano to the Nigerian commercial capital on Sunday was diverted to Abuja because of bad weather.
Bwalya made his Nations Cup debut 14 years ago in Egypt, scoring twice as his country lost 3-2 to eventual runners-up Cameroon, and this is his sixth finals appearance.
He quit international football after Zambia made a humiliating first-round exit from the 1998 tournament in Burkina Faso only to be wooed back by coach Ben Bamfuchile.
While some of the old magic remains, notably from dead-ball situations, the Mexico-based midfielder has had less impact than expected on a pool based in dust-enveloped Kano.
The mind is willing but the legs are not, and the man who once conducted the Zambian show from the heart of midfield is often a peripheral figure on the left flank.
He has set his heart on coaching Chipolopolo (Copper Bullets), as the team is popularly known, and qualified for the post after successfully completing a two-year course in Mexico.
Adding to Zambian woes is the absence through suspension of giant defender Elijah Litana, sent off against Burkina Faso at the weekend after receiving two cautions.
A Senegalese squad without big names comfortably saw off the challenge of Burkina Faso and lost by a solitary goal to Egypt while Zambia had their hopes of victory over the Burkinabe dashed by a last-minute equaliser.
With Egypt seemingly certain to top the group, Senegal or Zambia will stay in Lagos to face Group D winners Nigeria or Morocco for a place in the semi-finals. — AFP