Libreville — ZAMBIA coach Herve Renard has said facing Ivory Coast in Sunday’s Orange Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final here will not be as difficult as the eight years he spent running a cleaning company.
Renard said running a cleaning company in his native France was more difficult than playing Ivory Coast in the crunch 2012 AFCON finals whose kick-off had been delayed by 30 minutes due to ‘logistical and technical’ reasons.
Speaking during a media briefing at the team’s Hotel Nzeng-Ayong here, Renard said winning the AFCON final match would remind him of the eight years, where he would sometimes wake up around 03:00 hours to do his work.
He said it was the dream of everybody in camp to win the tournament and that it would be a huge moment for Zambia.
Renard said Ivory Coast, like Ghana, would start as favourites, and that while Zambia respected the Elephants, the Chipolopolo wanted to win and make history.
“We’re not favourites, we are very far from Ivory Coast just like Ghana (whom Zambia beat 1-0 in the semi-finals). But I don’t think Ivory Coast will underrate us because they have respect for us since we are also in the final. We’ve respect for them (Ivory Coast) but we want to beat them,” Renard said.
The Frenchman, who was once coached by English Premiership Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger at a French academy, also said Zambia would treat the Ivory Coast match like any other the Chipolopolo had played at the 28th AFCON edition.
Renard reiterated that he would never forget his critics if Zambia wins the trophy on Sunday and conceded that he was under pressure to prove a point because of criticism.
The Frenchman, who started his coaching career in 2000, also said he would not risk wearing a blue shirt in tomorrow’s match but stick to his favourite white.
Goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene said Zambia were not shaken to face Ivory Coast because the Elephants’ star player, Didier Drogba was just like Chipolopolo’s Emmanuel Mayuka and Christopher Katongo, who have also scored three goals at the tournament.
On his penalty save against Ghana’s Asamoah Gyan in the semi-finals, Mweene described the moment as the best of his career and that once he denied the Black Stars’ marksman a goal, he knew that Zambia would win the match.
Mayuka said it was his dream to win the 2012 AFCON golden boot but that he would wait and see what tomorrow would offer.
Katongo said Zambia had a chance to re-write history tomorrow and that the players in camp were all itching for the trophy.
Copyright © 2012 The Times of Zambia. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.