John Riordan: Devastating lost promise of Zambia's tragic football squad

Jay Mwamba speaks about his new book, Crash of the Buffalo

RESPECT: Zambia team captain Kalusha Bwalya pays his respects to the graves of the Zambian national football team members killed in an air crash in April 1993 in Heroes Acre outside the Independence Stadium in Lusaka, Zambia. Pic: by Simon Bruty/Getty Images

Kalusha Bwalya wanted to speak with Jay Mwamba. It was 5am in New York but the unexpected wake-up call wasn’t the only reason Mwamba was discombobulated.

He knew Bwalya’s flight schedule that fateful April day in 1993. It made no sense that he should be hearing from the Zambia national team captain when there were so many other more important logistics to worry about ahead of a key World Cup qualifier away to Senegal.