Zambia brought the much-vaunted Senegal back down to earth with a jolt and emphasised early the vagaries of competition in the African Nations Cup on the opening day of the tournament on Saturday.
Zambia's 2-1 win was a surprise and, perhaps in the end, a touch fortunate but the outcome also showed the perils of underestimating an opponent and going into the game with a haughty confidence.
Senegal looked to saunter onto the field with an arrogance befitting the status of favourite that so many experts had tagged them with in the build up to the finals.
But within 25 minutes they were staring down the barrel of defeat as the quick pace of the Zambians caught them cold. Added to that, ball watching and general disorganization in defence suggested Senegal came thinking it would be all too easy and were not properly prepared for their first match.
Now they are left having to win on Wednesday against co-hosts Equatorial Guinea, Saturday's other surprise winners.
Zambia obviously had a plan for their opponents, not prepared to mix it up physically but to snatch possession quickly and turn defence into attack. Overall Zambia spent more time on the back foot but when they did counterattack they were devastating.
The second goal scored by Rainford Kalaba was superb football - a cutting pass through the middle from Chris Katongo, a perfectly timed run and an emphatic finish.
Senegal made the requisite change early in midfield, bringing on a more attacking Dame Ndoye for Remi Gomis and then at half-time beefing up the midfield with Issiar Dia replacing Mamadou Niang.
It almost paid off, as they held the upper hand in the second half and might actually have fought back from 2-0 down at the break to win the game.
Moussa Sow, top scorer in France's Ligue 1 last season, surprisingly missed from close range and Demba Ba also went just wide and then hit the crossbar with a stretching header.
Ndoye's goal, making it 2-1 in the 74^th minute, caught out the Zambian fullback Chisamba Lungu, turning him out of position.
But Senegal just failed to add more gas to the pedal in the final 15 minutes, seemingly still shell shocked by conceding two early goals.
They pressed forward but looked fatigued. They might yet have forced an equaliser but after four anxious minutes of added time at the end of the 90 minutes, Zambia survived to serve notice that no one is sacrosanct at the Nations Cup.
