NEWS
OTHER SPORTS
DIARY
PEOPLE
MATCH REPORTS
SLIDE SHOW
ARCHIVES

Zambia in soccer final six years after disaster

Zambia beat South Africa 1-0 in extra-time to reach tomorrow's soccer final of the all-Africa Games, where they face Cameroon.

The goal by substitute Bernard Makufi in the 106th minute earned a poignant victory, coming six years after a tragic plane crash destroyed the heart of the national soccer side.

Eighteen team members died with 12 other passengers and crew when a Zambian military plane taking them to a World Cup qualifier in Senegal crashed shortly after refuelling in Gabon.

The dead included six of the players in the Zambian team who beat Italy 4-0 in the 1988 Olympic Games -- Zambia's finest football achievement -- and wiped out one of the continent's most promising teams.

Makufi's back post header came in front of a 40,000 crowd at the Orlando stadium in Soweto who had to endure poor South African finishing in a scrappy match.

Zambia face an uphill task to beat the physically strong Cameroonians who they lost to 2-0 in the opening rounds.

Zambia will also be without team captain Moses Sichone for tomorrow's game after he left South Africa for a trial with German side Cologne.

Cameroon cruised to a 1-0 semi-final victory over Uganda with a 19th minute goal by Parfait Mbida.

After nine days of competition, South Africa led the medals table after another successful day in the pool.

The host country has 61 golds, followed by Nigeria with 48 and Egypt with 46.

South Africa won four of the five medals on offer on the final day in the pool to finish with 30 gold, 21 silver and three bronzes.

UNI