Cheering on the Chipolopolo

The big match, and the last one of Zambia’s qualification campaign for the 2012 African Nations Finals and we managed to get tickets to see Zambia take on Libya. A win or a draw for Zambia would be good enough to see them through so expectations of qualifying were high. For us the game involved a 1,400km round trip to the Copperbelt as the match was being played in the town of Chingola. It was a lot of kms to cover with not a huge amount to see along the way until we reached the Copperbelt. It was interesting to pass through Zambia’s industrial heartland and see the towns of Ndola, Kitwe and Chingola. Whilst Lusaka is significantly bigger than all of them the city comes across as a maze, whereas the likes of Ndola seemed well planned and welcomed us with tree lined streets, road signs(!) and plenty of greenery.

Back to the footy and the match was being held at the stadium of the Zambian Premiership team, Nchanga Rangers, which had open stands behind both goals and then small covered areas along the sides of the pitch. Supposedly 20,000 people can squeeze in but as a rough estimate maybe 13,000 were watching the game. The fans still generated plenty of noise with their whistles, air horns and vuvuzelas. We fitted in well with our ‘official’ Zambia footy shirts; though official comes in various combinations of red, black, white, green and orange, as well as Nike, Adidas or other brands.

As for the game Zambia played well in the first half, passing the ball around nicely, dominating and creating some good chances. They hit the woodwork three times and the Libyan goalkeeper made a couple of good saves. The second half was much more pedestrian which was strange as we thought Libya needed a win to qualify. We found out later that because of results elsewhere a draw meant both sides would go through. Therefore, the game ended 0-0, the Zambian fans went away disappointed because they wanted goals, whilst the Libyan team celebrated on the pitch (a great achievement given the state of team and the country). I have two abiding memories. First, the warmth and friendliness of the Zambian fans was wonderful as it seemed that some of the post election feelgood factor had spilled over onto the terraces. Second, despite not scoring a goal when their team came close the Zambian fans jumped, screamed, danced and ran around. These celebrations were pretty wild when they hit the post so who knows what they would have done if the team had actually scored!

Sportastic

Quite a good weekend of sports entertainment – shouting at the TV and getting burnt in the sun. Saturday

• England vs. Scotland at rugby (much too close and tense to enjoy)
• Frisbee in the park (continuing the traditional established by Andrew where we are so committed no that we even play on when it starts to rain and we hear the sound of thunder)
• Internet surfing (repeatedly clicking the manual refresh button to check the Watford score; should not have bothered as we were thrashed 4-0 by Southampton)
• Serie A on the TV with Inter vs. Naples (at least one happy Naples supporting fan as they won 3-0)

Sunday

• More rugby with Ireland vs. Italy (explaining the complicated rules to my Italian friends who cheered despite the defeat)
• Maz golf club (we only lost 4 balls this time with three of our disappearing into the darn water hazard, as always)
• Back to the TV for Tottenham vs. Arsenal (sorry Anna but where has the Arsenal defence gone?)
• Final bit of footy, more Serie A with Juventus vs. Mila (or Marco vs. Lucia with Marco triumphant after a 2-0 win)

Now time for rest.

Good shot, bad shot

There’s not normally much to do in Maz at the weekends (aside from the occasional party!) but for the second time in a couple of weeks we headed to the golf course. This time of the year seems perfect for golf– warm weather but without the humidity that will be back come in October to frustrate us. And if we go mid morning there tend to be only a few players out on the course so we do not disrupt them too much with our slow play and wayward shots. There were six of us this time so we played as three pairs and overall we were not bad. Admittedly there was the odd hooked or topped shot and a few lost balls but we avoided the water feature on one hole and each of us managed a number of drives, irons or putts that were half decent. Even the odd par so there is some potential there.

The 2011 Mazabuka Olympics

Why wait for London 2012 when we can have our own version of the Olympics in Mazabuka. The main sports were table tennis (Olympic already) and pool and darts (maybe entrants sometime in the future if they are ever seen to be sports!). The competing nations ranged from established beasts like Germany and Canada to the obscure like St Lucia, and then to the non-existent like Gibraltar and Alaska (geography was not the best subject for one member of the organising committee). In true Olympic spirit there were lots of competitors just happy to be there and join in with a few medals handed out to the more successful pairs; general amusement and fun all round. Next time for the Winter Olympics it will be wheel barrow races and three-legged sprints.

Lost amongst the sugar cane

Yipee, VSO has very kindly bought me a bicycle to use for both work and play. Boo, sadly it is just not the same as my mountain bike back at home. In the cooling afternoon sun a few of us decided to venture out and explore the endless fields of sugar cane that cover Mazabuka. We peddled fairly leisurely through the Zambia Sugar estate, enjoying the smell of burnt sugar cane in the air. However, once we took a detour off the main road and down one of the numerous bumpy tracks the journey took a turn for the worse. We got slightly lost, managed to re-find ourselves but in doing so four out of the five bikes went down like dominoes with punctures. My bike gave up first, followed by two of the girls, so the three of us started a longish (5km +) walk home. The other two went off on the rescue mission with the aim of bringing back the 4x4 to collect us. Then two became one as Lucia’s bike got a puncture, leaving Marco as the only hope. Fortunately, a nice man working for Zambia Sugar in another 4x4 stopped, squeezed our bikes into the back of his vehicle and drove us home. We then had to turn around and find Lucia who was the last one left wandering around the sugar cane. The lesson here . . . the sugar cane may be sweet but it is also too sharp for bikes.