Libya will hope to end a 30-year Africa Cup of Nations winless streak when they meet Zambia in Group A at Estadio de Bata on Wednesday.
Libya look for first finals win since 1982
Libya will hope to end a 30-year Africa Cup of Nations winless streak when they meet Zambia in Group A at Estadio de Bata on Wednesday.
Their previous finals victory came in the last-four of the 1982 tournament, where they beat the Zambia 2-1 before succumbing to Ghana on penalties in the final.
Libya qualified for this year's showpiece despite the outbreak of civil war late last year.
However, they opened their account with a 1-0 defeat to co-hosts Equatorial Guinea, with coach Marcos Paqueta eager to make amends in midweek.
"This is not the end of the story, because we still have two group matches to play and every game is a different story," said the former Saudi Arabia boss.
Confident
"We are going to face Zambia and Senegal - the best two teams in our group - and it is going to get harder. My team wants to bring joy to the Libyan people after all the suffering they went through last year."
The Mediterranean Knights need to win if they are to have any chance of reaching the quarter-finals, as Zambia stunned heavy-hitters Senegal 2-1 in their respective opener.
Zambian midfielder Isaac Chansa is confident his team can handle the threat posed by Libya, but is wary of treating the opposition lightly.
"I can assure our nation we will not underestimate Libya, who we failed to defeat in two qualifiers for this tournament," he said.
"The atmosphere within our camp is very good and we are confident of going very far in this tournament with the coach (Herve Renard) demanding nothing less than a semi-finals place."
Key players for Libya include veteran goalkeeper Samir Aboudis and midfielder Djamal Abdallah, while defender Joseph Musonda, midfielder Chansa and striker Christopher Katongo are expected to play big roles for Zambia.
