John Kaunda is a former

Zambian Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are th ...

goalkeeper who played for

Nchanga Rangers Nchanga Rangers is a Zambian football club based in Chingola that plays in the MTN/FAZ Super Division. They play their home games at Nchanga Stadium in Chingola. The club is sponsored by Konkola Copper Mines. Achievements *Zambian Premier Leag ...

in the seventies. He is remembered for saving a penalty against

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

in 1977 which saw Zambia through to

1978 African Cup of Nations The 1978 African Cup of Nations was the eleventh edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the Association football, football championship of Africa (Confederation of African Football, CAF). It was hosted by Accra and Kumasi, Ghana. The format of the ...

finals.

Career

Kaunda started out as a basketball player and was unknown until Rangers signed him on as a goalkeeper. The tall and solidly built Kaunda then developed into an international class shot stopper and made his debut when Zambia played Algeria in a CAN qualifier in

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

in June 1977, ahead of regular goalkeeper Vincent Chileshe. Although Zambia lost 2-0, they reversed the score line two weeks later in

Lusaka Lusaka (; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was ab ...

through a Godfrey Chitalu brace. The match went into sudden death penalties after both sides had scored their first five penalties. Kaiser Kalambo scored Zambia’s sixth penalty and then Kaunda pulled off a save against Ighili when he palmed the ball into the post. He later described his match-winning feat: “After the Algerians had scored their fifth goal, I discovered that they were beating me in a set pattern. They had scored twice to my left and three times to my right so I knew 99.9 per cent that they would shoot to the left. I made up my mind to dive leftwards and for sure, there it was – a decisive save.”Liwewe, Dennis (1985). ''Soccer in Zambia'', Monterey (Ndola), p.196 Kaunda later played for KB Davies FC in Chingola.

References

Living people Zambian footballers Zambia international footballers Association football goalkeepers Year of birth missing (living people) {{Zambia-footy-bio-stub