Herve Renard’s reign as Zambia coach could take a historic turn on Wednesday when Zambia plays DR Congo in the second semifinal of the inaugural CHAN tournament in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire in a 21:00 Zambian time kickoff.
The first CHAN semifinal match on the day will be between Ghana and Senegal in Bouake at 17:00 Zambian time.
Victory would enhence Renard’s still infant legacy but put him up there in the pantheon of foreign coaches at the helm of Zambia behind Buselic,Tiler, Dumitru and Poulsen.
The journey to the penultimate stage of the tournament for the Frenchman has been littered with Jekyll and Hyde performances by Zambia.
First came the promise of things to come with a 3-0 win over hosts Cote d’Ivoire, then reality stepped into view with a bruising scoreless draw against Senegal before they completed Group A with a conspiracy fueled crucial 1-1 draw against Tanzania starring referee Ibrahim Chaibou of Niger.
It is certainly a big surprise to see Zambia’s progress to its first semifinal appearance in a senior Caf event since the 1996 Africa Cup finals held in South Africa.
In the semifinals, Renard will come face-to-face against a DR Congo side he is all too familiar as together with his men, they embark on the final stretch to glory on the road to Sundays final of the CHAN tournament in Abidjan.
Zambia and DR Congo have met once over the last five months after drawing 0-0 away in a international friendly played in Lubumbashi on November 15.
However, Zambia must be wary they will be facing a DR Congo side looking to restore some wounded pride after a resurrected Ghana crushed them 3-0 in their final Group B match on March 3.
While Zambia will be looking for some collective inspiration, DR Congo will look up to the mastery of TP Mazembe striker Tresor Mabi Mputu to conjure some magic in this battle of underachievers and in a match anticipated to be a toe-to-toe encounter for two sides that believe in expansive expression on the park.
Winners will face-off in the final to be played in Abidjan on Sunday while the third and fourth playoff will be held in Bouake just 24 hours earlier on March 7.
just go and win
I thought you were a chicken and not a doggy dogg
ni go go forward ba zambia !we can beat these guys-puteni ichimwela
Imwe guys uko…balitana, banani..beat the congoli please, Make us happy with a win please bane. Iyee, iyee chipolopolo. Here comes tana in a one to one situation. Tana is playing centre forward….there he goes, he is going ..lekamoooo…its a goal ..weleee!!!!!!!!!!
Be weary of Mputu,a dangerous striker, Litana must be at his best he has aged, not that false 34 he claims. he is 38. Now to this game, both teams know a win u are into the Finals. Both teams will work hard to get there. wont be easy. Zed should not be prone to their usual stu*pid mistakes of giving away the bal easily and making obvious avoidable mistakes. Good luck to zambia.
Sorry, I meant Tana the Nchanga Rangers defender, he is not 34. The usual false age the footballers give to perpetuate their playing carreers especially in Africa where true birth records hard to come by.
LT we like you. You are so kind that you give us this service for free. Thanks a lot LT. Do you have female employees?? Please greet them for us. Byee now I am off LT.
i can give ba Regina ‘s numba if you want
Nothing will make us more happy than to see our boys triumph over DRCt his Sunday . All fingers & toes are tightly crossed… Go Zambia Go! I’m your soccer fan nambala one!!!
I thought the game against DRC was today……
Ofcourse it’s today, thanks for correcting me. I was already dreaming about the finals on Sunday.
lets go for a win.
here we go moment of truth…
will be good to get to the final..and smash Senegal for real this time..
and we can do it…!!
Don’t forget that we always start so well and end poorly. Am still not convinced, Back to my grass for now!
local mbuzi eat your grass with hope, the boys can make a difference and we will sing iyee chipolopolo. Go go boys
do not worry all Chipolopolo fans,all is well provided we remain positive in bemba we say.:INAMA ,IFWA KUMUSHI.lets support our GUYS.
Well all the best! But watch out for our light skinned neighbors !!!
Zed ni zee. We’ve to beat these guyz. Bloggers please when the game is on and you happen to have connexion to watch, as usual share with us the proceedings. Better still pass own that web address so we can also have access.
One love ba ZED
OK, so here’s the plan pals, we beat Congo 2:1 and beat Ghana 2:0 in the final. Chipolopolo for real. But those refs suck, we got to be strong.
I like your optimism. That’s the way to go! Viva Zambiaaa!!
And away we go boiz, let us hammer them!
We gonna win today’s match. I can bet on this one.
Lets bet!
Goodmorning Baby C, how’s your day? Careful with your bets my dear, you will end up in debts.
Go Zambia Go! We have to win this one. But ut Congo should also score one goal so that I see that celebration dance by their goal keeper. Go Zambia Goooooooooooooo!!!!!!!
The coach once said we cant be in the final and we cant win this tournament. That was before it started. Now bloggers busy prophesing we are winning. I wonder who is telling the truth???Nothing but the truth!!!! If we win it, the coach then is clueless and a wrong one. if we lose,the coach is a genius.
What do you think ayi? but honestly speaking, winning this tournerment will be a miracle! Heaven will even come down!!!!!!!!
thats what we hope for… heaven to come down so that we have a miracle of chipopolo guys winning
I am optimistic on this one coz I know that the boys are determined. Please restore our national Pride on the Soccer level. We had it way back and we know how it feels to win the finals!! Wishing you the best today as we match towards the final game on Sunday.
The bet is on Baby C…
Morning Nine Chale… i withdraw! you are right!
But why Baby C? I was even planning to throw a BBQ with my hommies using cash from the bet. In fact, you wouldn’t even have lost anythying coz i was thinking of getting you an air ticket to come and join the party.
Hmmmmm! ……let me think about it!
I see you guys are doing fine chatting away this even (21hrs) soccer game. I hope Z don’t start dozing since they are not used to playing late. I think the coach should have some positive words for the boys privately. But on the outside he doesnt want to raise expectations. Anyway we have come so far already lets do this now.
HOPE YOU’LL PLAY WELL THIS TIME. ALMOST GOT EMBARRASED BY TANZANIA. ALL THE BEST.
lets GO boys,am 1 of those guys tht has been with u from they start of they tournment todate and its good to hear that critics are now joining us when we are almost their.we have done it before and we can still do it,lets GO boys.
Good to see a united and poztive spirited Zambia in the name of futbo and not politics, for once. A win will sure go a long way in making most people smile… Go boiz and conquer!
A Zambia win in tonite’s game is most probable.
LET US HIT BA KABOKE SO HARD THAT THEY WILL BE IN SHOCK FOR THE NEXT 50 YEARS. YEMBELA. EH…., YEMBELA…., YEMBELA MWANA MAYO….YEMBELA .YEMBELA YEMBELA MWANA MAYO….BA CONGO TWALI NABO KANSHI MAKULA YEMBELA, ….YEMBELA YEMBELA MWANA MAYO…. What is wrong with this machine.. it is not singing…… i suspect it of supporting ba kaboke.
Thats what Im talkin about man. A few hours from now and we, even we, ll sing to that.
I am with you my brother.
We shall do it tonight. CHIPOLOPOLO IYEE!!!
Zambian soccer players are too slow I do not understand what they do all year round there are too many injuries in the team. That coz they are not well trained football is not only about running on the pitch. Muscles wear out during the season thats why there is time to rebuild the body so as to get it back on track. Please ba coach start by strength training your players they are too slow, weak and some fat!!!. What Zed team needs is not these all mind thinkers of coaches just becoz they were players. We need qualified physical trainers too who understand the way the human body functions.
DRC 2 ZED 0 20 minutes played. What mountain to climb!
Zambia to slow and not used to playing under flood lights. Half time 2-0. 45 min to improve and save our selves. DRC-Ghana in the final will be boring coz Ghana will win it any way. But Zambia and Ghana in the Final is mouth watering.
Yangu tata we are out! And I have a feeling we wont even be able to take the third place.
Zed as usual …..
yaba!!! you didn’t know, zambia is like Bwezanis brother so alike in they acts you can predict the whole games before they even played.i think we should not send our team any where to play coz am sure we shall loose anyway. i love the team but i hate they way they play, it sacks!!