Herve Renard has set a second round target for Zambia at the 2010 Africa Cup after Chipolopolo today qualified to the tournament to be held in Angola this January.
Zambia drew 0-0 against Rwanda in Kigali this afternoon in their final Group C match to reach their 14th Africa Cup final tournament.
“Our target now is to reach the second round,” Renard told ZNBC Radio 2 in a post-match interview in Kigali after the match.
Renard insisted that a second round appearance will be a great leap for Zambia after failing to reach the pre-quarterfinal stage in their last five successive attempts.
The last time Zambia made it past the group stage at an Africa Cup tournament was in 1996 when they won bronze in South Africa.
“In life you have to take it step-by-step,” The Frenchman said.
Renard also saluted his charges for holding out against Rwanda to secure qualification and he singled out utility defender Kampamba Chintu of Amazulu in South Africa for making some crucial clearances in Saturdays match.
Zambia finished 3rd on 4 points to secure the final third group qualifying spot in Group C while Rwanda finish bottom on 2 points.
Meanwhile, draws for the Africa Cup will be held in Luanda on Friday starting at 16:00 to 18:15 Zambian time.
I still dont see Renard stay beyond July 2010 despite the qualification
Indeed in life you have to take it step-by-step, so let’s wait & see how the boys perform in the next game. All the best monsieur Renard.
Dissapointin result!
Albino at work….this man cannot be an expatriate in any sport, how could u set such low targets expatriate indeed
Zambia has reached CAN final twice and this ***** coming from the pig family tells us that we can only manage upto second round….why did FAZ employ him in the first place because even our local coaches can attain the target he is setting.
our group was tough guys.it is the only group that has not yet produced a winner.i hope we wont be in the same group wit egypt and cameroon.better if we ll fall in the group where nigeria wil be.am afraid of the best of cameroun, egypt, ivory cost
only 2 goals that zambia has scored has taken us to the africa cup. what does this tell us?
ata why set low targets especially after the govt will spend billions to send them there ? This coach is not good for Zambia at all but becoz ni muzungu he can never be fired !!!!!!!!
How can a big name like Zambia set such a low level target like reaching the second round.If that is what we a capable of achieving then it was better to allow Rwanda to take our place.
Both Kalusha and Renard should be ashamed of themselves.Zambia has really been reduced to the level of scroungers.For a team that has been to the Africa Cup finals twice(1974 and 1994),it is shameful to set such low targets.
This is concrete evidence that Kalusha and his team have done a sham of a job running football in Zambia.It’s time for them to exit the scene.
Renard must be fired, it is better to go to the competition with zambian coaches, he not added any value to zambian team.
Well done Zambia but a win would have done us proud.
if you aim for second round, you’ll be out in the first. Its always best to aim higher. Hasn’t anyone taught this guy that the higher you aim the better the results you achieve?
This is choosing to be blind.football has changed a lot.lets stoping living in de past.even if we were coached by fergie today,the result would not be dat different.give de coach quality material to work wit.let us not ask for miracle.
#13 Well said…God we have so much to do…
Iam personally dissapointed by our coach Herve Renard remarks that his aim is to see zambian reach the quarter finals, i find it difficult considering the fact that in every competition every team or country target to reach and win the the finals. How dare this coach is targeting to reach quarter finals instead of finals? sorry he is not a serious coach.
he is not serious but realistic
I fail to understand why some people can’t see something which is very clear for all of us to see. Tuli fi makula period. Spare the innocent coach! He has tried his level best and he knows how far these boys can go if miracles were to happen i.e. second round. Mind you we are talking of second round before the draws are made. We won’t be seeded and are likely to be in the fourth pot. This means that we will be thrown in the den of lions- Cameroon, Nigeria, Egypt. Ivory coast, Ghana,Algeria,Gabon etc.
There he goes again. When others were aiming for world Cup qualification, he aimed for Africa Cup. Now the aim of other coaches aim is to win the Cup and his is to qualify for the second round. Its extremely rare for one who sets low standards to achieve great things. This chap must leave as soon as possible.
THE COACH HAS NO AMBITION HOW TO DO AIM FOR THE QUARTER FINALS WHEN EVERYONE WANTS TO WIN THE TROPHY NO AMBITION
Just  fire this character, he has nothing to offer, he is just after money.
The coach may be right in his judgement looking at the quality of strikers that have been lined up for him.Any reasonable coach cannot cheat the media that he now aims for the trophy. The biggest problem for the team now is the striking force and there is no chance that the coach can poach for better strikers within the weakest and the most boring league in the region.To me that is impossible .To put things clear from what we have seen, if zanbia had an ability to score atleast a goal or two in each game, we could have qualified for world cup.Its now history with two goals taking us to the African cup……
This expensive coach has given grounds for his dismissal. He needs to go togther with his bosses the Kalu admn. They have watered our football standards further down. Their actions and pronouncements have not helped footbal matters anyway. They need to be purged all of them.
uyu coach ci color na kalusha are killing zambian soocer! all because they are player agents and select players whom they will sell.aiming for second round? please…… zambia deserves far much better! they are just wasting tax payers money. this coach and the know it all faz executive must go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Analyzing the situation carefully, sacking HR will not change the fortunes of our beloved Chipolopolo instead will present further confusion to restart the building process. Everything has gone right for HR except for one important department -the strike force. The strikers have failed to score a single goal in all the qualifiers with the only two goals scored coming from an impressive midfielder and man of the moment ,Kalaba and a defensive midfielder , Kasonde. Unfortunately we cannot make strikers coz strikers are born strikers, all we can wait for is the peak in form for our current strikers or rather cast the selection web wide to look for more striking options.
Guys, he has set sights on second round coz he knows thats how far he can take us..he has no capability to enable us win the Africa cup or go beyond the second round..he simply has no confidence in himself..but coz ni muzugu he cant be fired..sadly, the team is still misfiring, we still cant score..Let him just GO..!!
NOTE THAT THE FIRST ROUNDS ARE THE TOUGHEST.
AFTER THAT ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN.
YOU MUST CUT YOUR CLOTH ACCORDING TO YOUR SIZE BWANA.
FOR NOW LETS GIVE CREDIT WHERE IT IS DUE. WHETHER WE FIRE THE COACH NOW(DO YOU KNOW THE COST?) THE BOYS HAVE DONE IT.
Renard and the boys, you tried your best atleast you have qualified to AFCON. Hard work will see the team go even beyond the second round. As the tornament starts, everyone will have equal chances, hence the reason I think HR has said target 2ND round, from their anything is possible. Come Jan 10, 2010 lets troup in numbers to our western neighbour and give 100% support to our boys, Angola can be turned into our home ground. Anything and everything is possible with hard work and sacrifice. I will be sending info to FAZ on our opponents when the groups are decided and arears that need serious work not forgetting goal scoring. Best wishes Zambia and congrats. Go Zambia Go, No fear, we can beat anyone that comes our way.
its gud renard is be open.da problem in zed is dat we lik be cheated look @how da MMD is cheatin us.
we lack quality in our team