It is perhaps no surprise that Patson Daka wrote himself into the history books by scoring for Zambia at the Africa Cup of Nations on Sunday. The 25-year-old has had to bide his time at Leicester City this season, spending a large part of it on the bench, but he has kept working hard and arrived in Ivory Coast with a point to prove.
In Zambia’s first game he provided an assist as the Chipolopolo drew with the Democratic Republic of the Congo before scoring in the 1-1 draw with Tanzania and becoming the first player to find the net in every Afcon possible: the Under-17, Under-20, Under-23 and senior competition.
As the former Chelsea and West Ham manager Avram Grant, who is in charge of Zambia, said when asked about Daka’s situation at Leicester before the tournament: “His behaviour off the pitch is an example for young players. An example for players here who sometimes don’t know how to deal with being on the bench.”
Daka has become a household name in Zambia since emerging on the scene in June 2015 when the then Chipolopolo coach, George Lwandamina, called up the 16-year-old from Nchanga Rangers to the senior squad for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Guinea-Bissau.
Fans and pundits alike had differing opinions on the choice to give Daka his competitive senior debut so soon. Lwandamina did not care and put Emmanuel Mayuka, who was with Southampton in the Premier League, on the bench in favour of Daka, who had only two goals at the 2015 Under-17 Afcon on his CV and had not scored a senior goal for his club.
“He is a striker and he has done well at the youth level, and all we need to do is encourage the boy,” Lwandamina said, defending his decision. “He has all it takes to be a good striker.”
The game ended in a 0-0 draw, with Daka playing for 68 minutes before being replaced by Fwayo Tembo. Many people felt he was being rushed, and although he made appearances for Zambia in January 2016 at the African Nations Championship for locally based players, he was then left to develop with the age-group teams for a while.
A breakthrough came in 2017 when he helped Zambia win the Under-20 Afcon and qualify for the Under-20 World Cup, which was held in South Korea. He scored against Italy in the quarter-finals of that tournament and ended on two goals.
Wedson Nyirenda, who had taken the Chipolopolo job in January 2017, brought Daka, along with Fashion Sakala and Enock Mwepu, back to the senior squad for the 2018 World Cup qualifiers after their outstanding performances for the under-20 team. Daka was then playing for Liefering in Austria.
On 5 September 2017 he scored the only goal in Zambia’s 1-0 World Cup qualifier victory in Algeria, marking his true arrival on the international stage, and despite dipping back into under-23 level he has become an ever-present with the seniors and broken into the list of Zambia’s top 10 all-time scorers, led by Godfrey Chitalu, who set an African international record of 79 goals in 111 games.
With 20 goals in 43 games for Zambia Daka is eighth on that list with time on his side to move further up. One of his former Under-20 coaches, Beston Chambeshi, told the Guardian that Daka was an example of where hard work can get you after the striker’s record-breaking goal on Sunday night.
“He is hard-working and he deserves to set a record like that,” Chambeshi said. “The boy is a hard worker in training and always sets out to achieve what he wants to achieve. The other guys [young players] must learn from his hard work. I am very proud of him and I am sure the sky is the limit for him.”
Daka, who has four goals and two assists in only seven games league games for Leicester this season, has scored his 20 international goals in fewer matches than the Zambian football icon Kalusha Bwalya.
Having set the record, Daka expressed his gratitude to his teammates for their perseverance against a Tanzania team keen to win an Afcon match for the first time.
“I want to salute the team’s performance,” he said. “I think it’s a deserved point. We would have liked to have more but we will be content with that and look forward to the last game. My goal has always been to help the team, whether through goals or assists. But it’s not easy every day to score goals. I am happy today.”
On Wednesday night he could be even happier if Zambia cause an upset against Morocco and go through to the last 16. As always, he will give his absolute best.
