January 15, 2008
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CHRIS Katongo
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Christopher Katongo signed for Germany Bundesliga side Arminia Bielefeld on 4th August 2008 from Danish side Brondby IF and the Germany side is believed to have paid 1.5 million euros from his services.
The Zambian international has tied a 3 three year deal.
He is certainly Zambia’s most valuable player at the moment. The 26 year is confident and has skill to take on opponents, and is capable of playing as a deep-lying forward or lead striker.
The Mufulira born is Zambia’s leading scorer at the African Cup of Nations; one from the Egypt 2006 and two from Ghana 2008 editions.
The combative and burly midfielder cum striker joined renowned Green Buffaloes from Kalulushi Modern Star in 2001.
At Zambia Army sponsored outfit under the tutelage of Coach George Lwandamina, Katongo became a key member as his goals propelled Buffaloes to the group stages of African Cup Winners Cup.
He finished as the top scorer in the continental competition despite playing deep in midfield.
In 2003, the young Katongo was given his first taste of international football by the then coach Patrick Phiri in an international friendly against Sudan.
While still establishing himself in the Chipolopolo set up, he was a key member of the Peter Kaumba coached Under-23 squad that was a game away from qualification to the 2004 Olympic Games.
And if the failure to qualify to the Olympic Games in Athens wasn’t enough, Katongo suffered another misfortune when the Chipolopolo Boys failed to book a ticket to the 2004 African Cup of Nations.
One trivial about the workaholic Chipolopolo skipper is that he scored five times against Bafana Bafana including a memorable hatrick in 2007 and an international debut goal in 2005.
His impressive displays for both Green Buffaloes and Zambia were noticed by Jomo Cosmos owner and coach Jomo Sono. And in 2004, he signed for the ‘Enzenkosi’ alongside his young brother Felix who plays for French Ligue 1 side Stade Rennais.
While countryman Collins Mbesuma was mesmerizing the Kaizer Chiefs fans with his goal scoring exploits, Katongo only managed 7 goals in his first season.
After the departure of Mbesuma to English side Portsmouth, the South African media looked for the ‘new Mbesuma’ but surprisingly Katongo’s name was not short listed.
But at the end of the 2005/06, the burly striker weighed in 12 goals, just 2 goals short of the leading PSL scorer.
His efforts culminated in British teams inviting him for trials. First the then English Premier League club Watford trialed him for two weeks and then Scottish sides Aberdeen and Dundee United but things could not materialize.
The midfielder cum striker returned to Jomo Cosmos and he tormented PSL defences as he went on to score an incredible 15 goals in 15 games and the ‘Enzenkosi’ faithful started to worship the Zambian hitman and nicknamed him ‘Tsunami.’
The ever-critical South African media started to compare the Zambian hitman with compatriot Mbesuma who mesmerized and broke the scoring records in the PSL in the 2004/05 season. Mbesuma scored 25 league goals plus 10 other goals in Cup competitions.
To some they believed that had katongo finished the season he could have broken the league scoring record. With such kind of prowess on goal Katongo became one of the hottest strikers on the continent and in January 2007, Danish giants Brondby captured him from under the noses of Portsmouth and several French clubs.
By the time he was leaving Jomo Cosmos katongo was the leading scorer in the PSL were he had a goal game ratio and his coach, Jomo Sono predicted that the Zambian captain will come back and collect the golden boot award at the end of the season.
Sono joked: “I don’t see anybody scoring 15 goals; Chris will come back to South Africa at the end of the season to fetch the award.
Four months later Katongo was given the top scorer award by the PSL and he became the second Zambian to win it in three years.
The sensational almost broke the hearts of many Bafana Bafana fans as he put his name in the Zambian football history books when he scored a hatrick inside the first 20 minutes in Cape Town in a Ghana 2008 qualifier.
Katongo became the third national team player to score a hatrick for Zambia in the post Gabon disaster era. The first to achieve was Great Kalu against Burkina Faso in ’96 then it was Mbesuma in Congo Brazzaville.
Because of his achievement in football the Zambia Army commander promoted him from a corporal to a Sergent in September 2007 just after his antics against South Africa.
And after fine cap at the Ghana 2008 African Cup of Nations, ‘Tsunami’ was again elevated to Staff Sergent by the Zambia Army Commander.
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