Football Zambia: Fud

“The only ghost on this pitch is the one we bring in our heads.”

They ran.

“Enough,” said a quiet voice. It was not the coach. It was Lubinda, the 17-year-old left winger, the smallest man on the team. fud football zambia

“The FUD,” the coach said, pointing a finger at his own temple. “That’s the real opponent. Fear makes you pass backwards. Uncertainty makes you stop running into space. Doubt makes you miss that shot you’ve taken a thousand times in training.”

“My father is a farmer in Mkushi,” Lubinda said, pulling his socks up. “Last year, the rains didn’t come. Fear said, ‘Don’t plant.’ Uncertainty said, ‘The seed is bad.’ Doubt said, ‘The land is cursed.’ But he planted anyway. He dug a well with his bare hands. We have maize today because he did not listen to the ghosts.” “The only ghost on this pitch is the

2-1.

Emmanuel, free of fear, made a lung-busting run down the right. The cross was perfect. Lubinda, barely five feet tall, out-jumped a defender twice his size and powered a header into the net. 1-1. It was Lubinda, the 17-year-old left winger, the

He gathered them in a circle on the worn-out sideline, the smell of freshly cut grass and red dust filling their lungs. The stadium was half-empty, the tin roof of the main stand rattling in the afternoon heat.