Herve Renard has said winning their first game will be very important before plotting revenge against Nigeria.
Zambia has been drawn in Group C at the 2013 Africa Cup against Burkina Faso, Ethiopia and perennial nemesis Nigeria.
The African champions face Ethiopia in their opening game on January 21 in Nelspruit.
“We must negotiate our opening match against Ethiopia,” Renard told SuperSport.
“The opening match is very, very important in a competition so we must treat everyone very seriously.”
Zambia will follow this up with a January 27 meeting against Nigeria also in Nelspruit in both sides penultimate Group C match.
“We crushed out of the quarterfinals in 2010, we lost to Nigeria,” Renard said.
“So we have a good chance of revenge against a very good Nigerian team.”
Zambia was beaten 5-4 on post-match penalties by Nigeria in the last eight after a scoreless game at the end of extra-time during the 2010 tournament in Angola.
Zambia have also lost their last two meetings against Nigeria including a 2-0 loss in a friendly last November away in Kaduna.
Look nigeria is nothing. Zambians have conquired africa.AFRICA.so whats nigeria
elyo walanda we musungu wesu.
Thats it. Tell them, no jokes this time. Tell them, clear wins no penalties till we come back with our cup when we meet Ghana in the finals. Ivory coast im sorry i didnot make the draws we all have difficulty paths, but yours looks like toughly man made.
‘toughly man made” lol hahaha
You must sort out your grudges with others players. You need to call all those players that wronged you. Zambia needs them to help triumph and excel in this galant tournement.
My dear Zambian cuzins….in your life time have you ever watched a football game where Zambia beat Nigeria? Secondly where do you draw your huge optimism from? does Zambia boast higher pedigree in the competition than Nigeria or have they got better players with experience and exposure at the highest level? Dont forget that Nigeria has won at least a bronze medal in 13 out of 16 Nations Cups they’re played in. In terms of player quality Nigeria has a huge pool of highly talented players maybe 10times the number available to Zambia! e.g the UEFA champions league group stages has 11 Nigerians actively involved…..are Zambians known to play at that level? Please answer the questions with your brain and not your heart…
cheers :)
Scare monger!
facts my friend…FACTS!!;)
My friend the truth or what ever you call your self, those statistics are not important. Why did you FAIL TO QUALIFY for the last AFCON? Zambia has been making an appearance for the past 16 years. The truth is that you ‘good quality’ players that ur boasting about are not committed to their country, talk of Obi for example. when did he last if ever he did put up a good perfomance for country? they are intrested in money like any other nigerian and lack patriotism. To win trophys you have to have a heart for the nation, like your players of yester years, Keshi, Olise, Amunike, Babangidah, Yekini(MHSRIP) Okocha etc that team that beat us in the 94 finals was your last good team so wake up bro things have changed the chipolopolo rule!!
Yes in my life time I have seen Nigeria wired by Zambia 3-1 in Lusaka and the Super Eagles were disbanded,same thing applied to Ghana and Cameroun.Dont play with Zambia.This Nigerian team is over confindent and if they are not careful they will go home early
we shall see…..no problem.
Mr Mimbulu that game was played in 1985 (27yrs ago!!)…so that makes you at least 37 hahaha and how many times have Zambia been walloped since then? :)
the truth, football does work like that. If having 11 players in champions league meant that you will win that AFRICON then all the other teams would not bother going there. Besides why didn’t these same players help you to qualify to the just ended tournament, which should have been won by Ivory Coast who have more player in Europe and champions league. Nigerian player who have played Zambia have respect  for Chipolopolo and know that it will be a tough match when we me again considering that the last meeting @ AFRICON ended with a scoreless draw.  Good luck to you for next year when we meet
Use your logic to explain Egypt’s consecutive hattrick of championships with a team full of local players with the exception of one who played in Europe for a team that didn’t feature in the Champions league
good point there! But the Egyptian league is much much stronger than the leagues the current chipolopolo players ply their trade! True? The Egyptian players are very reluctant to leave their country to play abroad, i have a couple of Egyptian friends who play professionally and they say nothing would make them leave Egypt!! Is that the same situation in Zambia? just asking..lol
On our way to winning the Afcon, we beat Senegal, Ghana, Ivory Coast. These three teams have most of their players playing at the highest level of club football. Champions league and Europa league. It’s not where you play it’s what talent you possess and how you strategize.
I am not sure what u are using between the heart and ur brain but the fact is we are current african champions.This did not come as an accident.We know alot of people(u included) are still in denial.Can u please honestly rank Ivory coast or senegal with Nigeria today? U can use either ur heart or brain in trying to answer this question.We are a formidable side my Bro and we will step up to the plate.VIVA CHIPOLOPOLO
You can not use a league as a an accurate measure to gauge how successful a team is going to be in a tournament. If this was indeed the case, Spain should have won the world cup several times over the past 30 years; England should have always been in the world cup final etc.,. Use your logic to support explain why Cape Verde is in the Afcon and Cameroon isn’t.
Iwe the truth we are champions ok dont be negative we can beat nigeria they are a small team nowander they failed to qualify for AFCON 2012 and we did. Uganda and liberia beat them recently why should we fail? remember we beat ghana a better team viva chipolopolo.
They will cry Zambia oye
#5 The truth, Players dont win matches, teams do. Look at the last world cup, Argentina had Carlos Tevez, Messi and the like, where did they end up? I guess you know the answer. Ghana even did better than Argentina. Let me bring it home a little. I believe Ivory Coast have better players than Nigeria, but where did Ivory Coast end up at the last AFCON against Zambia? i guess you know the answer. So the truth is that, Soccer is not won with where the players in a team play, but won with the strategy you use and team unity. You are right, Zambia doesnt have many players playing on a big stage, but we have a better team than any African country and that is what will make us champions even next year. So you can talk about Nigerian players and where they play, that wont win you any much!
With all due respect Zambia don’t have the calibre of players to strike fear into any of the big boys! What your players had in the last nations cup was exceptionally high determination and that was probably due to the history your team have with Gabon….trust me guys i’m not belittling your team afterall your current champs! All i’m saying is you are probably 6th favourites at best behind the likes of CIV, Ghana, Nigeria, Tunisia and Mali
At the last tournament we were not favourites either. @The Truth you talk like one whose knowledge about football is based on what the media says. No disrespect to Nigeria but they are not the same side that once had JJ Okocha, Yekini, Oliseh etc. Zambian success is based on team work not individuals. If you asked me, I’d rather we have Nigeria than Algeria, Tunisia, Morrocco or worst of all Egypt. The last two times we’ve lost against Nigeria we’ve outplayed them – only luck has been on your side. FACT.
Zambians I want to tell you that I already told my friends at work and home that 2013 AFRICA CUP is coming to ZAMBIA. dont doubt. you know where to find me and just support the team. those with fear I encourage you to watch teh 90minutes of each games and be assured that the day will be in favour of Zambia.
Chipolopolo boys get the shooting on target, this is another gift you are given, dont misuses it. Thanks. Mwansa in Ndola
nigeria can only play 11 plays at a time. So dont scare us. And they are not invisible!!!!!
The truth your brain should be upside down. What did people say about the Zam vs Togo game? How far did Togo go? Bola ni 90mins. We shall blog after the game.
In my life time I’ve seen Zambia whack Nigeria five times so stop scaring us with statistics: You Nigerians are just LOUD!
I was a toddler then but on 28th October 1973 in. Lusaka Zambia beat Nigeria 5:1
Nigeria won the return leg 3:2 but we eliminated the Super Eagles from the AFCON finals of 1974 via a 7-4 aggregate. Match that! On 18th August 1985 again we eliminated the Eagles from 86 AFCON when we beat them 1-0 in Lusaka after drawing 0-0 in Lagos In the AFCON finals of 82 on 13 March Chipolopolo beat Nigeria 3-0
In a friendly in 1981 played on 28th July Zambia beat Nigeria 3-0 So don’t make it like you are lightyears ahead of Zambia.
The Truth(The lie I think) ask yourself why a team with such a large pool of talent (and from 160 Million people) as you put it is often under-performing, has failed to dominate African soccer, has failed to make a mark on World soccer, why it can fail to qualify for the Afcon finals-please answer the questions with your brain and not your heart…And you will have the answer
Am so tired…. working with calculations… when is weekend coming up?
Truth, out all the players who you say are in the champs league and europe, and a citizenry of 160m and all the millions of illegal immigrants you have at large, you must be the most useless chaps to fail to come up with only a team of 11. Even qualifying, you had to be helped by the referee who red carded a Liberian player hence opening the floodgates.
I think the Truth has gotten the message..LOL!!!
Lets just talk without insulting each other….
Here is what i think,….
I say we will beat Ethiopia, beat Nigeria and draw BF….!
We top the group and advance to the QF… However, we must be careful on one aspect,…
Everyone saw what they didn’t expect at the AFCON 2012,….!
So, as a result, most teams will at least even rate their chances of even qualifying from the group stages,…
Even Cape Verde who were responsible for knocking out some certain Lions….!
We can’t afford to take our “B” game to South next year!
We don’t have to beat Nigeria to qualify to the next round. We are Champions and we should think like champions. There is no team in Africa that cannot beat and have never beat unless they do not play football. We have wired Senegal, Ghana, Mali, Cameroon……name them
Thanks dear
we have beaten Nigeria itself b4 so why should we fear.
I thnk Ghana, I/Coast and Senegal are better than the fufu boys. U hav been lucky in the recent past but its tym to rewrite the history. Uganda hav rewritten their history so wats so difficult about Nigeria???? Am only worried about B/Faso coz we used to wire them big tym, they may revenge so lets be careful with them. Nigeria is lyk AC Milan big team which everyone is beating now!!!! Go Zambia Go….. Malawi, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Tanzania, Mozambique and Uganda etc are all behind us!!!
hahaha i have got under your skins have i? lol I knew zambia had won against Nigeria a couple of times but i was also aware you had to be very good at digging up archives to find any details of those events, see one of you went as far back as 1974 AFCON!! JEEZ!!! @ Kai grad. dominating african soccer is different from dominating zambia, which we have..we even shagged you(with our home based team) just before the last afcon you won! @Gullit no words for you for trying to comare naija to togo, what u been smoking?lol @kci yes ur correct, but those teams have wired you 10times more than u have :) @Blackthought you know Nigeria is your big brother…what we have achieved in the game the whole of southern africa combined can match. FACT! lol
A couple of times??? As Manipulative as 419!
also dont forget that zambia regularly do not make it out of their group at the AFCON, FACT!! your eyes have been blinkered by the flukey AFCON win eh? Bless your cotton socks luv lol
Where did you get this fact, please show meÂ
Zambia have qualified for the AFCON 15 times and only made it out of the group 8 times! you were knocked out in the group stage in 1978, 1986, 1998,2000, 2002, 2006 and 2008! that actually means you were knocked out in the group stage in 5 consecutive tounraments!:”>
Admit it..You were trying to scare Zambians with some cooked up stats and you just didnt expect these facts my brother. And you are still continuing on your path… Chipolopolo have gone past the group stage 8 times according to you and you say ONLY? What a manipulative Nigerian you are! They have won the silver two times and the bronze two times and you want to belittle that? Besides remember Zambia joined CAF and FIFA much later than Nigeria and Ghana who were competing in four team competitions for a continental title. Inasmuch as we know Nigeria to be a great footballing nation just acknowledge that the little Southern African country is talented. That 1993 team would have shaken the world my bro
@southafrican
No not at all! I’m not trying to scare the zambian cuzins, i just enjoy the banter! lol And no im not being manipulative, the facts i have provided are indeed Facts! qualifying from the group stages at the AFCON 8 times in 15 attempts can be described as irregular in my book! Also Nigeria never played the 4 nations AFCON in the 50’s/60s. You can check these facts easily on wikipedia bro. The mighty Super Eagles have played the AFCON 16 times and 13 of those attempts ended up with a medal! where can i get a shiny vuvuzela for the semi finals, please advice ;)
But you are forgetting that most of those failures to get out of the group stage occurred after Chipolopolo had lost their entire team! From 1994 onwards.
good point there! they lost their team (May their souls rest in peace) in April 1993! But they still qualifed and did very well in 1994 and 1996 AFCONs so that explanation does not quite wash
bring clifford mulenga back!
yes. bring clifford back
The only player in the current Nigerian squad worth the salt is Victor Moses. Nigerians must be wishing Kalaba was Nigerian. @The Truth you’ll see what others saw earlier this year – watch this space!
Dont make me laugh, Kalaba will not dream of getting into a midfield of Mikel (Chelsea), Joel Obi (Inter Milan), Igiebor (Real Betis), Musa (CSKA Moscow), Moses (Chelsea), Onazi (Lazio), Obiora (Parlemo), Obasi (Schalke), Azeez (Almeria), Odumadi (Torino), etc etc Not Kalaba or any Zambian Midfielder can get in this team in a zillion years…..
Number 5 , you may have so many so-called big name players in Europe ,but they can only use 11 at a time ! Fact is we are not scared of Nigeria , and you know it will be tough for you also !
@The Truth #21 my bro you are just a stubborn old goat who can’t use rationale. No wonder u depend on Wikipedia which me as an academic dare not use.
The fact that Chipolopolo lost an entire team and still managed to compete so well in 94 and 96 shows you the depth of the pedigree in that country was much better than Naija or any other African rivals.
 Losing an entire team means losing even the bench so still coming up with a team that reaches the final is amazing. Of course that pool of talent ages and you need RESOURCES  to maintain it. That’s how and why Zambia faltered from 2000 but they’ve still come back to win it. It proves the kind of talent and passion 4 the game in Z. It shows Zambia with 12 million people has a better pool of talent than Naija with 160 million peopleÂ
you my friend are the stubborn old goat for not being able to clearly see the points i have raised despite your claim of being an academic! what does academics have to do with getting results of previous AFCONs from wikipedia? FOOL
How far had the ‘depth of pedigree’ you are claiming taken Zambia prior to the crash??
Judging from your arguments The Truth you are indeed a stubborn ole goat
Go chipolopolo go
Shosholoza Shosholoza Chipolopolooooo!
The truth,i think East african 26 has pieced your heart with probably the ultimate truth,you’r now geting emotional,which realy proves that you are a stuborn goat.use your rationality not your instincts.viva chipolopolo.
The truth,i think East african 26 has pieced your heart with probably the ultimate truth,you’r now geting emotional,which realy proves that you are a stuborn old goat.use your rationality not your instincts.lol.viva chipolopolo.
O’mehn See these over pampered zambians behaving like dey have arrived. I remember how we were supporting dese lucky zambians here in nigeria, I was even in skul wen d whole of unilag celebrated for zambia now dey ve bcome too arrogant…
We shall teach em a lesson to rem, weda zambia play better or not, dey are destined to fall in d hands of almighty NIGERIA cus we are their boss.