KK 11 BEST TEAM EVER, SAYS KAOMA

By Fulman Mukobeko

FOOTBALL historian Daniel Kaoma says the Zambia national men’s football team that perished off the coast of Gabon was the best Zambia has ever had.

On 27 April 1993, the entire Zambia national men’s football team and officials died in a plane crash on their way to face Senegal in the World Cup qualifiers.

Speaking in an interview, Kaoma said the KK eleven was the best team Zambia had ever produced, adding that in comparative terms, the team that won the Africa Cup in 2012 was nowhere near the team that perished off the Coast of Gabon.

“That team was exceptional. You cannot compare player by player and a team as a unit to the one that won the Africa Cup in 2012 and the one that we have in place coached by Avram Grant. That is an apology of a team,” Kaoma said.

He said Zambia assembled a team of professionals to play in the 2023 Africa Cup but went out in the first round because they lacked quality.

 ” Look at   the quality of some professionals or foreign based players. They don’t even know the basics of football like ball control and heading is a problem. Talk of the late Debby Mankinka…it was very difficult to depose him. By the way, he was Mankinka and not Makinka. Look at the late Robert Watyakeni, a defender for that matter, the way he could control the ball as if he was a midfield player.

“He would pass; he would shoot but look at our players today. So, for me, I cannot be convinced that the team we have in place comes anywhere nearer the team that perished off the Coast of Gabon and I still maintain that those guys were very good,” he said.

Kaoma said 2012 winning captain Christopher Katongo recently confessed that it was a miracle for Zambia to win the Africa Cup.

He said nobody thought Zambia would conquer Africa, saying not even coach Herve Renard had an idea.

And FIFA Agent Chiti Chitundu agreed with Kaoma that the KK11 was better than any team Zambia had produced.

He said it was not easy for a player to be called for national team assignment at the time because competition was stiff.

“If you ask me how good they were, I always tell people to look at the quality that remained and reached the final in Tunisia 94.I would watch a cup like Mosi Cup, BP Top Eight and the league.  If you looked at Nkana players, you find exceptional talent but they were not in the national team,” he said.