Friday, March 29, 2024

Renard Looking to Avoid Bumpy Road At CHAN

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Herve Renard faces his biggest test as Zambia coach since taking charge last May when he leads his men out against hosts Cote d’Ivoire in their opening Group A game of the CHAN tournament in Abidjan on Sunday evening.

After two forgettable tournament outings, Renard knows the stakes are high at CHAN even with a modest squad at his disposal while his reputation as Zambia coach too will come under some scrutiny.

The situation hasn’t been helped after Zambia’s preliminary group stage ejection from the 2008 Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup in January where the graph slumped rather than soared as his side won one, drew one and lost their final Group B game.

Earlier on in August, things didn’t go well for the Frenchman at the Cosafa Senior Challenge Cup in his first major tournament in charge where Zambia finished third in a competition they qualified to the quarterfinals on bye.

Against Cote d’Ivoire, Renard’s misfiring strike force must show some character to give Zambia a good start and the pressure will be more on the Zanaco forward Given Singuluma to inspire.

Singuluma sparked briefly at Cecafa with a brace in Zambia’s opening game against Djibouti before the goals dried up in the teams subsequent two Group B matches against Kenya and Sudan.

The midfield however, is an easy one for Renard where he is blessed with some reliable personal.

Defensive midfielder Kebby Hachipuka is an authoritative figure every time he takes to the field for Zambia but should Renard choose to be predictable, the Green Eagles player be on the bench with Lusaka Dynamos’ William Njobvu favored to start.

If attack was a problem for Zambia then one should look at Renards defence.

Meanwhile, in a dramatic turn of events, Elijah Tana is set to join the team on Monday in time for Wednesday second Group A game against Senegal in Abidjan.

However, Nyambe Mulenga from Zesco United and Francis Kasonde of Power Dynamos will share the leadership duties in defence while Renard could replace Tana with George Chilufya (Not to be mistaken with the ex-Nkana defender) and hand the promising Nchanga Rangers defender his international debut.

Zesco goalkeeper Jacob Banda has a serious problem dealing with set pieces and it will be interesting to see whether Renard plays his inconsistent home-based first choice number one.

52 COMMENTS

  1. NY Giant. check zambianfootball dot net.

    The game isn’t on but the updates are more regular.

    It is 1-0 to Zed btw. Given Singuluma on 35 mins, we he’ve had another one ruled out for offside.

  2. You are posting comments too quickly. Slow down. Is the message I got when posting Number 19!! LT I was not quick.

    • We thank god that the boys played very well and my worry is Senegal they really need to be careful with them i saw the way they were playing with Tanzania long ball and you know those guys are tall. we need to play our game the yapashi like the way late Chabala will say bikeni bola pashi. If we play like the European long passes will definitely fail so let us play our game the Zambian game. All the best and the prayer really worked for us. Gop bless you and hope for the best.

  3. Impressive improvement to site LT!!
    Good start.Hope you guys don’t perform the CECAFA debacle.
    Is there any network in Europe beaming these matches?Anyone please.??

  4. Zambia maul Cote d’Ivoire in CHAN opener
    02-22-2009
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    Zambia maul Cote d’Ivoire in CHAN opener
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    A brace from striker Given Singulama powered Zambia to a shocking 3-0 win over hosts Cote d’Ivoire in the opening match of the maiden edition of the African Nation Championship (CHAN) on Sunday.

    The result was a shocker to the home crowd who had filled every corner of the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium in Abidjan to cheer their team to victory…

  5. Zambia maul Cote d’Ivoire in CHAN opener 3:0
    A brace from striker Given Singulama powered Zambia to a shocking 3-0 win over hosts Cote d’Ivoire in the opening match of the maiden edition of the African Nation Championship (CHAN) on Sunday.

    The result was a shocker to the home crowd who had filled every corner of the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium in Abidjan to cheer their team to victory.
    The hosts were clearly oversh

  6. Zambia maul Cote d’Ivoire in CHAN opener 3:0
    A brace from striker Given Singulama powered Zambia to a shocking 3-0 win over hosts Cote d’Ivoire in the opening match of the maiden edition of the African Nation Championship (CHAN) on Sunday.
    The result was a shocker to the home crowd who had filled every corner of the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium in Abidjan to cheer their team to victory.

  7. Zambia maul Cote d’Ivoire in CHAN opener 3:0
    A brace from striker Given Singulama powered Zambia to a shocking 3-0 win over hosts Cote d’Ivoire in the opening match of the maiden edition of the African Nation Championship (CHAN) on Sunday.
    The result was a shocker to the home crowd who had filled every corner of the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium in Abidjan to cheer their team to victory.

  8. I told you we’ll win. that victory over us in the 2002 olimpic qualifies was unfair because these west africans likeness using over aged players.

  9. Perfect start. Now Renard will make others eat a humble pie as long as we don’t become complacent. Go Chipolopolo GO! We just need to win a game and draw the other. Our rankings will improve if we go past semis.
    Atfet all there is life wothout Tana

    Thank You boys

  10. A job well done Zed,nothing is impossible if u put ur mind 2 it.Now lets 4get this game and focus on the Senegal match,these games are agood build up 4 the titanic opener for the World Cup against Egypt.Lets go Zambia.

  11. A job well done Zed,nothing is impossible if u put ur mind 2 it.Now lets 4get this game and focus on the Senegal match,these games are agood build up 4 the titanic opener for the World Cup against Egypt.Lets go Zambia.

  12. Quotes
    Georges Kouadio (Coach, Cote d’Ivoire)
    “The Zambians took us by surprise and they held on that throughout the game. There is no doubt they were the best team and they deserved the win.
    “This is an entirely different side from the team I saw in Uganda last year during the CECAFA Cup, and the new players made the difference.
    “Nothing is lost, but we have to win our remaining games to remain on course.”

    Herve Renard (Coach, Zambia)
    “The Ivorian team was nervous with the huge crowd and we capitalized on that. The expectations were too much and they simply could not live by it.
    “We played our normal game and we got the result. This is a good start and we are on…

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