Playing Well After Tragic Crash, Zambia Still in World Cup Hunt

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast —  Zambia, a team rebuilt after most of its players were killed in an April plane crash on the way to a match against Senegal, played a scoreless tie with that country Saturday in a crucial World Cup qualifying match.

The intensely emotional makeup game captivated the neutral crowd that cheered heavily for the Zambian squad, which remained in contention for a berth in next year’s World Cup.

The tie followed Zambia’s 2-1 victory over Morocco last month, the first game since the crash that killed 18 players and forced soccer officials to quickly assemble a new team.

Zambia is one point behind Morocco, which leads Group 2 of the Africa zone with four points.

With Saturday’s tie, Senegal earned its first point of the qualifying round after two losses against Morocco.

The 18 players were among 29 killed when a Canadian-built Zambia Air Force plane crashed April 28 into the Atlantic Ocean off Gabon minutes after taking off from Libreville.

Three members of the national team were playing for European squads at the time and were not on the flight.