Following the dramatic digital photo finish in Group D, the Confederation of African (CAF) applied all the tournament rules and regulations to single out group leader and runners-up, Zambia and Cameroon, as the teams that qualified for the quarterfinal stage.

In fact, the African football governing body considered all the stipulations of Article 72, sub section 72.1 to 72.7 and specifically, Subsection 72.6 and 72.7 to arrive at the decision of giving group leader to Zambia, who will incidentally confront the Super Eagles in the quarterfinal tie billed for Monday.

The rules specifically stipulated that when all other rules have been applied, the fair play and drawing of lots rules would be applied.
Zambia qualified for the quarterfinals of the African Cup of Nations with a confident victory over Gabon. Rainford Kalaba opened the scoring with a deft chip over Gabon keeper Ebang Ovono, before James Chamanga made it two in the second half.

Substitute Fabrice Do Marcolino scored later on for Gabon but it was not enough to see them through in a tight group. Gabon will be bitterly disappointed after needing only a draw to progress, but Zambia deserved their victory. It means Zambia have come from the bottom of the group to qualify as group leaders.

In the group, all the teams got four points except Tunisia with three points. For the Super Eagles to reach this crucial stage, they lost the opening game 3-1 to Egypt in Group C, went ahead to beat the Squirrels of Benin 1-0 through a penalty scored by Yakubu Aiyegbeni.

Then in the last group game, they humiliated the Mozambican national team, the Mambas 3-0, topping the group with six points ahead of Egypt, Benin and Mozambique.
For Zambia, they drew 1-1 with Tunisia in the opening game, lost to Cameroon 3-2 and advanced further to beat Gabon 2-0 in the last group match. They got four points from three games and also topped their group which gave them the quarterfinal ticket on head-to-head rule.

It would be recalled that the last time, Nigeria met the Chipolopolo of Zambia was in the 1994 African Nations Cup finals. The Zambians also shocked Nigeria by scoring first in that game. But the Super Eagles of Nigeria proved their supremacy over them by coming from behind to score two solid goals which came through Emmanuel Amuneke. Eagles ended that game with 2-1 and smiled home with the trophy, giving Nigeria the second Nations Cup trophy since 1957.
It would be recalled also that Nigeria also played friendly game with Zambia during the preparatory stage of the Nations Cup in Durban, South Africa which ended goalless.
The quarterfinal game is going to be a re-enactment of the ’94 feat and it is the better side that will carry the day.

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