The harsh reality of Herve Renard’s Africa safari is now well and truly on after witnessing Zambia’s 1-0 defeat away against temporarily homeless host’s Togo in Accra, Ghana on Saturday.
Renard’s dreams of becoming an instant hit as he tries to follow the well-worn African path traveled by his mentor Claude Leroy and maybe on to becoming the next Philippe Troussier have surely left him shaken after overseeing a stuttering Zambian performance against Togo.
The Frenchman had high praises for Zambian player’s skills and technique when he was unveiled on May 16 but after Saturday’s loss, he has surely had a serious change of heart.
Zambia, despite all the positives written this weekend about there 1-0 loss and the sympathy surrounding Christopher Katongo’s disallowed late equalizer, were bad.
Moreover, as much as I would like to be patriotic, my heart says the Brondby striker’s goal that never was, heavily leans towards offside.
Furthermore, the erratic TV signal from Accra that was surpassed by the quicker five-second radio feed did not help put a shine on Zambia’s display in a match half of the team behaved like die-hard Arsenal fans in the midst of Emmanuel Adebayor in real-time.
Zanaco striker and the leagues leading goalscorer Roger Kola showed he was not ready for the big game temperament battleground of the level of the Africa Cup theatre.
Kola probably needed some propping up from his dependable junior sidekick Emmanuel Mayuka of Kabwe Warriors who replaced him just after the break.
The two enjoy a great telepathy on the pitch at both junior level and in the CHAN qualifiers but the likelihood of seeing the pair starting together in the 2010 is very slim barring withdrawals by key strikers.
Mayuka on the other hand took his chance with both hands and his plane ticket must be on the top of the pile for Zambia’s trip to Mbabane next week to face Swaziland.
Zambia’s biggest shining light on the day in Accra was Free State Stars goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene and is my pick for Zambia’s man of the match award against Togo.
Yes, Clifford Mulenga, the midfielder from South African club Bivest Wits, had a purple patch but what would we have done without Mweene in goals?
Mweene’s club mate and defender Kampamba Chintu on Saturday decided to return to his old bundle-of-nerves routine we all thought had seen the last of five years ago that saw him frozen out of the side.
Togo seriously also exposed our miniature and already aging five-year-old defence.
And whatever anyone says; we missed that lumbering giant from Lusaka Dynamos Hichani Himoonde.
Himoonde proved his potential at the Africa Cup finals in Ghana and talk about his all-round defensive deficiencies is all just football politics.
Renard meanwhile, is now under some pressure.
He needs to win his forthcoming doubleheader clash against Swaziland on June 15 away and June 20 at Konkola Stadium or the sound of “physical” will ring louder in his ears than “coach.”
Thanx for the analysis. At least those of us who didn’t watch tha match now know that all is not rosie but a lot of hard work significant changes are needed if we have to go thru this round.
Renard needs to spend moer time around the country. Let him see for himself what he’s gotten into, realze the mammoth task and climb that mountain. I support whoever is in charge of the boys but only if he’s willing to go further than ZANACO, Lusaka Dynamos and the regular clubs. Draft a rural boy and see his skills on the international stage. Eh?
EISH MAN ZAMBIA PLAYED WELL UPFRONT WITH SHOTS FROM JET LEE KATONGO But DEFENCE WAS PATHETIC.YES RENARD THEIR IS ALOT NEVERTHELESS WE WISH U ALL THE BEST!
Nigeria is busy giving South Africa a beating 2-0 a minute to go
I agree that we eed to go out and tap that raw talent even in rural areas. I still recall Zambian players such as Jones Chilengi,francis Kajiya,Kapela Katumba,Pele Kaimana were great footballers unearthed through a Zambia schools final in Lusaka. All those boys ended up playing for the national team even captaining the Team.So coaches should not onmly rely on teams on the line of rail.
While i dont approve the appointment of a physio of another African country to the helm of our soccer,its a cry ver spilt milk.I blame those in charge-FAZ.Most Zambian coaches are better than Herve.If we were serious we should have poached the ghanian coach himself and not his physio really
I am told our coach has a diploma in coaching aswell.we need sinkala and mbesuma against swaz. Let us the team we used when we wired SA 3,1.
#5 Keep up the spirit. Great to see that you are sharing the news. Let us still not forget that in such games experience counts. We need players that will take things upon themselves when the going is tough. For your information, Swazis are very scared of Mbesuma. Just the mention of his name sends shivers down their spines. He single handedly destroyed them at woodlands stadium in a cosafa match. The headlands in Swazi papers read: ‘Swaziland Mbesumaed’.Including him in the team will open up spaces for other strikers because the swazis will put two defenders to man-mark him. Lets make sure he is fit in the next two weeks.
#7 the malitoli brothers, Peter kaumba (ABALEYA) etc, were all rural boys, actually in Africa it appears the best sportsmen always come from rural settings. Haile Gerbresellassie of Ethiopia rural boy, Kip Keita of Kenya all these fellas. We have an immerse supply of talent in this country, but without proper talent management we shall always be content with second best. Imagine the 1993 team, how diverse it was.
Take it easy..all we need are zambian footballers who can be professional enough.. Look at mbesuma. Kalusha, musonda,stone, msiska,???? gave good example to being professional. Now we have only chris..we need more xcris to go 2 wc
Take it easy..all we need are zambian footballers who can be professional enough.. Look at mbesuma????useless. Kalusha, musonda,stone, msiska, gave good example to being professional. Now we have only chris..we need more xcris to go 2 wc
Guys we have only played one game and we mourning like it’s the end of the world.Did we expect Togo just to sit and watch us beat them.On paper the have a better team than ours.Whether the was confusion in their team or not on the pitch its a different story.Its the players that play forget the confusion many teams have risen above the their problems off the pitch.
The team now has to beat Swaziland home and away in the next 3 weeks.Whiles we wait with anticipation for the results of the game between Swaziland & Togo this Saturday. Believe me it won’t be easy for Togo in Mbabane.
Tunisia lost at home to Burkina Faso,Guinea could only manage a draw at home against Zimbabwe & I.Coast
only managed to score a goal against Mozambique.If we closely look at the results over the weekend we able to tell that the are no small teams.Thats why we the coach needs to sit down with Kaumba & Lwadamina and strategise for the next two games.The advantage with have is that we know Swaziland well.We just played them about a month ago with our home based players.We just need to go the tapes of those games then we will know what we up against cos they will be using almost the exact team.As for Togo they don’t know much about Swaziland.
We have to beat Swaziland home and away otherwise we done if we fail.Then we can plan for Togo when the come to Chillies.We have beaten Togo everytime the
come to Zambia.My only worry is that Togo has to play Swaziland at home in the last game of our group in October.Thats why we have to sort out the business now.
#12 yes we have wired Swaziland before and believe me you Swazi has improved and are able to upset any team. I thought the time we played Swazi we used the under 23. correct me if wrong. is it the same boys or we have added new ones? i have respect for them. Togo is equally under pressure she would have been comfortable if she had score 3. sorry history has it that Togo has been axed at Chillies and Independence studia. who knows we might upset them big time. Go zambia Go.
ha ha ha ha Malawi 8 Djibouti 1……………….
Better a 1 to 0 loss in togo than a bigger margin.we will offset the tables very soon like we did against south africa previuosly.zambia wiil top the group by the end of the year.
west africans are bad people.they always mis-treat our players and they are good at buying refferres and raise men.
however, we will beat them when they come to our bark yard.
We are sick and tired of depending on mathetical chances of making to the WC. When will we learn to do the job right from the beginning. Wait till Swaziland whip us in Mbabane or force a draw. Let us just admit, zambia is a sinking soccer titanic. Somebody should rescue it before it is too late.
Too many errors in some of the comments. Please let’s try to minimise errors by proof-reading. Back to football, Swaziland will have a different strategy – they have since changed their coach and they also have some professionals based in USA and RSA. It will not be the same team we beat 3-0 recently. Their new coach is Shakes Mashaba the former SA coach. We need to prepare well. We have never won in Swaziland even with the team that perished in Gabon; In 1993 we beat them 5-0 in Lusaka,they beat us 2-1 in Mbabane in the return match with Jani Simulambo as their coach. We lost on penalties in Cosafa and we have just drawn there. Even Cameroun has failed to win there. They play well at home
Therefore, Togo will not find it easy and we wont find it easy either unless we prepare well. Other teams that have failed to win there include, DRC, Angola, Kenya and Zimbabwe to name just a few. Some how they always manage to draw at home. The only problem they have is that they are very poor travellers.
I did not watch the match though if there is a part we need to improve is the defence. We have average strikers, maybe as time goes on these new boys kola nad mayuka will grow into a formidble striking force.Collins is not lost, let him just have game time, the boy is a natural.I did not expect to beat Togo, to be honest guys.They are part of the new force in africa football now.
I just thought that we must always recognise that there are normally three outcomes in a game: win, draw or lose.
What makes us think that we must always win? Are we, Zambians, superior than any other nation?
Let us acknowledge that a loss is as normal a result as a win or indeed a draw. Even Manchester United lost at Chelsea this ended season.
Let us learn to accept the results and work towards getting better results. The Zed National Soccer Team and Administrators at FAZ House need our unending support.
Why dont we include, BIg Mo in defence? OUr defence is crap, we have always cried for FAZ and coaches to cast their nets wider anmd include players like Misheck Lungu, Moses Sichone and others.
zimandola you are a typical zimandola, uninformed, stereotypic and always looking for someone else to blame
# 7 Mwiinga, where are you from? Who told you that the Malitoli brothers where from rural areas? Borniface Malitoli, the first of the Malitoli Brothers who played for the national team until his nagging knee injury played for Chamboli Secondary and Zambia Schools I played with Kenneth in the Copperbelt Amateur League (CISB of Kitwe). Kenneth later moved to Nkana. Mordon too played at a primary school in Kitwe. All the family grew up at Wusakile. As for Peter Kaumba, I remember him with Power and may be you are right though I doubt it too.
#25 Chamboli-Wusakile On the Malitoli Brothers you right but with Peter Kaumba he was originally brought to the Copper belt from North Western Province where he started playing his football.Though he rose to prominence at Power Dynamos.
I am one person who has always advocated for the inclusion of Moses Sichone. I know Sinkala had been sick for most of the last six months. How about the guys in Sweden and other European countries. Players like Edwin Phiri, Misheck Lungu. Why have we forsaken them? I can clearly tell you that the game against the Isihlangu in Mbabane wont be easy and so is the game against Togo in Chililabombwe. Something serious needs to be done urgently. How long are we gonna be relying on the mathematics? Let the coach assess most of the guys playing abroad, especially defenders.
#26, thanks for Peter I concur with you!
mpopo whats funny about this result. what result did you expect you …. you shouldnt be laughing anyhow. you may end up laughing at how ugly you are. fuseki (voesek in africaans.)
#25 thanks for the correction, for the record I come from Zambia. I might have missed this particular lesson in zambian football about Boniface. Let me rewrite your comment. “Mwiinga, you are mistaken, the Malitoli brothers did not come from any rural area. Their…” as opposed to the way you phrased your post, but again who am I to judge you?
#19 that is scary, my God we have a long way to go don’t we?
#7 Peter Kaumba was at Kitwe Boys Sec School, played for Mindolo utd with John ‘Libya’ Kalusa before joininng Power.
Changing or looking for new players in the rural areas or elsewhere at this stage of the qualifiers is unrealistic.We may have to do this for future qualifying games. There is need for the current team to train and blend together for a considerable period of time if we are to achieve any positive results. Including palyers in the team a few days or a day before the game is not accepatble. It doesnt matter whether the players involved in this regard are professionals or not. Football is about team work and determination ofcourse blended with individual skills and brilliance. So lets rally behind the boys people, this is all we have at the moment.
I dont see anything wrong with our defence, fact is we failed to score and our worry should be getting the goals
This sounds like the same old story with just a change of names! Gosh when will we ever again make an impact in football!
The investment has been just too much for the kind of returns!!!
Hey guys it is only the beginning. The problem we have as Zambians is that we want instant results. Herve Renard is only weeks old and we expect miracles. He has given us his assesment of the first game so let us wait and see how we shall perform against”little” swaziland. We can win all the remaining 3 games so let us not be too vocal
I am happy Renard has told the Post that the team needs balance (Stamina). He says the current state of the team, can not match West Africans in size, this is what I have saying on this forum, Zambian players too small and soft.
Give players such as sinkala and sichone a chance if u want a balance in the team.
Jones Chilengi,francis Kajiya,Kapela Katumba,Pele Kaimana as schoolboy internationals which schools did they attend bane, they were grade seven drop outs joining the Army of Zed that has never fought a war. It is like Katongo, he is a good footballer but brian tapaba iyo
Who is this punk that is using my name??
Pano na po natina mwe, just what the hell is this blog???? Leave me in peace
I dont know about others but the late Jones Chilengi, was a smart man. Why are you guys going on about academic qualifacations for soccer players? Its not the point. They have made a career in football. They are very few educated football players, worldwide
# 32 Thanks Abaleya Mindolo-Miseshi!
Wayne Rooney, Beckham, Michael Owen all are not educated in the real sense only that school is compousory in UK otherwise would’ve been grd 7 dropouts. Aren’t they great in world football?Who said Grd 7 is not school? The fact is Chilengi, Kajiya, Kaimana, Katumba etc came from rural schools be it grd 7 or form 5 before joining GBFC. You can not deny that they were better National team footballers than most of those in the current team. #39 how much do you know about the above other than from papers? Do you really know their backgrounds?
Coach,this a time to call Edwin Phiri,Sichone,mbesuma and Tana against Swazilana
@ DISGUSTED SPECTATOR…
School is compulsory in the UK? hmmm am hearing that for the first time mate,
I know of people who can’t read,spell or write,who have never been to school mate in the UK mate,
but again who am i to dispute your assertions, like the say you learn a new thing everyday
Ta.
I wish to let you know that i completed my form 5 at Mwinilunga Secondary School in 1971.
Machete no 46, my dear I live and work for the dept of education in the UK. It is not only compulsory but a criminal offence to keep a child away from school until they are 16yrs and they have completed their GCSE the equivalence of grd 12 in Z. If a child is absent for sometime without reason, known as truanting, the parent or guardian is taken to court, fined and the child may be taken away into care by the social servises. Unfortunately,some don’t learn much because they are forced to go to school which is common. So all the UK footballers you see have completed secondary school. Children are encouranged to concetrate on whatever talent they have not necessarily books only.
Thanks Francis Kajiya #47 for coming to my rescue. #39 what can you say now that your ignorance has been shown about Kajiya?