November 28, 2008
Zambia national soccer team coach Herve Renard yesterday revealed that his primary goal was to qualify to the 2010 African Cup of Nations in Angola and the team will use the Saturday’s Ivory Coast 2009 CAF Africa Nations Championships (CHAN) second round, first leg in Angola as a build-up match for the Egypt game.
renard-in-white-chingola
In an interview after Thursday’s morning training session, Renard described Zambia as a strong team but not a very strong team in Africa at the moment and it had a lot of work to do in order to qualify for both the Africa and world cup.
“My aim is to qualify to the Africa Cup, we are a good but not a very strong team at the moment, and we saw what happened in Morocco. I am very happy with the squad, if you remember the COSAFA tournament three months ago it was not the same squad.” Renard said who acknowledged that fans’ expectations was to lead the team to 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa.
When asked to comment on the Morocco trip, Renard’s first response was “Morocco is now the past.” But later blamed the lack of adequate preparations, “it is impossible to prepare an international game like that, I mean I was not happy with the preparations, a good rest was not the case this but I know the problem, the gap between the Congo DR game and Morocco friendly games was not okay, we played Congo on Thursday and Morocco on Saturday. This was a very big mistake because we didn’t have enough rest”
“Sometimes the problem is with the players and not FAZ because some players think that three months before the Egypt game is not very important, it’s a big mistake, this is a big mistake.”
Renard said the team arrived in Morocco 24 hours before the match. They only had one training session Tuesday night.
The Frenchman explained that a professional team needs to arrive in the host country atleast 48 hours before the match.
The local side is expected to depart for Angola this afternoon on Angolan Airlines for Sunday’s match.
83 Comments on "Renard: Qualifying to Afcon is our aim"
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DaMwiinger on Fri, 28th Nov 2008 12:31 PM
I am concerned that HR’s aim is mere qualification to the Afcon. We can and have always done that even with our local coaches. We don’t need an expatriate for that. Our expectations are to make it to the world cup or win the Afcon as a minimum Mr. Renard sir. Anyone can qualify to the Afcon
BA ZAMBIA on Fri, 28th Nov 2008 12:44 PM
okey kaya che.we just need to win the afcon or atleast just reach the semi-finals,please Herve Renard help us.
Mabbwana on Fri, 28th Nov 2008 12:49 PM
Aah Renard, I think you are now getting your bearings wrong.
We seem to be on different footing with our coach. FAZ should quickly explain our expectation to him.
Billy on Fri, 28th Nov 2008 1:12 PM
I am now beginning to understand that HR is just trying out his luck using our chipolopolo and Zambia. HR this is no time to experiment at the expense of our team. We have tasted AFCON many times and all we want is to have a taste of WC. Qualification to AFCON is non-negotiable. The target is qualification to WC. Somebody should make this clear to him. We are tired of always coming out second best, or actually with no silver-ware at all.
Sibs. on Fri, 28th Nov 2008 1:35 PM
Thats a low target Coach.H.R you seem not to Herve Faith in qualifying the team to the World Cup.
Faz sit this guy down again & explain to him his major goal.
spaks on Fri, 28th Nov 2008 1:45 PM
Afcon???? be serious bane, we dont expect anything less than world cup, Afcon has no significance at this point in time, why go for the lesser prize when we have access to the top one???? Ni world cup tate tulefwaya noti ifi mulelanda
Big Steve from SA on Fri, 28th Nov 2008 2:44 PM
It seems this guy is just placing himself in a position were he can defend a fall. Kknowing very well that Zambia has a huge chance of qualifying for the Afcon, he wants a situation were should he fail to get to the world cup he will turn around and say “I told you our goal was Angola and not South Africa”
Our goal Mr. 20000 Dollar man is South Africa and Angola will then be bonus and not the otherway around. Kalu and company, are you hearing what your employee is saying here, is this the goal he is mandated to reach???
Dinamo on Fri, 28th Nov 2008 4:13 PM
Mr HR you were brought in as an expert to move us a step further by taking us where we have never been.We have been AFCON runners 2 times & third placed 3 times.What we need is the world cup appearance or the AFCON trophy, though playing in the semis or the finals can also be a plus.Mind you we had cheap local coaches like Bamfuchile who took us to the AFCON with a 100% wining record in the qualifiers.So please give us something new & worth the $20 000.You can claim that you have no players but that shouldn’t be an excuse b’coz you have chosen to restrict your selection to a small pool of players.
Seen from afar on Fri, 28th Nov 2008 4:14 PM
There is no doubt we are trying to punch above our weight. The players need to be equipped with all the right tools if we stand a chance of carrying this fight. That means everything, the full whammy (psychological, physical, motivational, tactical, spiritual, technical, collectively, and on and on), HR needs to start this and it has to be special. FAZ must back him, encourage high high ambitions and then ensure that logistics are thorough. So far i’m not seeing anything major from FAZ, it’s just same old, same old. Forget money restrictions, what about leadership, togetherness, planning and groundwork? As of Renard, i just hope that he can connect with the players and get the maximum out of them at the right moment. This is the opportunity right now, individual careers in club football will never be so good, this is everything.
Me i don’t fear losing, i only fear going backwards. As i say the truth of the matter is we are punching well above our weight, all i can really ask is that we fight a good fight! After we get beat 5-1, what is there to fear? I don’t want to see us being suppressed or throwing crazy tackles and unable to mark and defend aerial balls, i want to see that we can express our Zambian spirit in each and every very different game no matter the opposition.
Yaba, i’m out. Come together Zambia, time to galvanize! Renard make it happen.
DaMwiinger on Fri, 28th Nov 2008 4:40 PM
Love your contribution seen from afar-very positive indeed and pragmatic.
Seen from afar on Fri, 28th Nov 2008 5:40 PM
Thanks DaMwiinger!
Jaggari on Fri, 28th Nov 2008 8:42 PM
Zambia is not good enough to qualify for the World Cup. Not enough quality and experience compared to Egypt.
Best post-Gabon opportunity was four years ago but they blew it by going with an inexperienced squad — when better players were available. Andrew Tembo, Miti, Lota, Sichone, Sinkala and Davies Phiri could have helped against Senegal and Mali, even if some of them were on their last legs.
Ba Ole on Sun, 30th Nov 2008 8:31 PM
Spaks, spot on. The guy needs to be more ambitious or we just get rid of him.