I hope you will understand the enthusiasm behind sending this letter thousands of miles away from the tip of the Horn of Africa. The reason is the Chipolopolo’s, our daring and brave eleven men who turned the bookies upside down to emphatically win Zambia’s first ever African Cup of Nations.

Just like millions of other soccer fans across the world, we in Somalia, also witnessed as the Chipolopolo’s brought down the much-fancied mighty Elephants in an electrifying match full of tensions and a mesmerizing game of football that had more of a psychological duel, rather than, the normal football physical contest .

There was in deed a lesson to be learnt in the battle of wits, character and passion witnessed late last night in Libreville, Gabon. That lesson is that determination pays, and if you believe in something you will succeed no matter how big the challenge ahead.

Credit to the Chipolopolo players, who were never given a chance from day one of the tournament. It is only after they brushed aside Senegal’s “Lions of Taranga” that people noticed the Copper Bullets. Morocco, Gabon and Ghana can actually attest to the lethality of these copper bullets!

Ivory Coast had never conceded a goal, a defeat or even drawn any match in the entire tournament. This is probably why many soccer pundits took Zambia lightly assuming the much experienced Elephants would walk over the Copper Bullets.

But that was not the case.

During the adrenaline-filled 120 minutes of AFCON final football match, I even overheard someone saying, “Copper bullets are ideal for silencing the mighty Elephants,” and that is exactly what happened.

As an East African residing in the Horn of African, I supported Zambia for the simple reason of being closer to me geographically than Ivory Coast. As the only south-eastern African country playing at the AFCON, we had a focussed and a deadly representative in Zambia’s Chipolopolo.

Names like Mayuka, Mweene, Katongo and Kalaba will surely last in living memory of soccer in Africa. I don’t remember the last time I shed any tears but the emotional triumph in Libreville was too much for my eyes to bear. I simply could not stop tears of joy bubbling out!

We salute the Copper Bullets for the momentous triumph in memory of the 1993 Zambia soccer players who perished in the same city where the Chipolopolo’s made history last night by holding their nerve to win 8-7 on penalties against a very experienced and technical Ivory Coast side boasting of the likes of Didier Drogba, the Toure brothers ,Gervinho and many other talented African players plying their trade in elite European clubs.

ENDS.

When he is not thinking about football, the author, Guled Mohamed, together with his Mercy Corps colleagues helps people turn their crisis in Somalia into economic and social opportunities.