The legendary Diego Armando Maradona once remarked that if anyone wanted to bet on anything, the surest way was to bet against anything that Brazilian legend Pele said.
In El Diego’s mind Pele always got his football predictions wrong and for any team Pele tipped to win they were sure to lose.
Such was the feeling we endured the moment Sports Minister Chishimba Kambwili said Chipolopolo coach Herve Renard’s contract would be renewed whether anybody liked it or not.
We were left with no doubt that it was indeed the HOUR for the Frenchman to go. After all, Kambwili had halted another debate about the disastrous name for the soon to be completed Lusaka Stadium and declared the debate closed before common sense ruled him offside.
It is a wonder that this debate of the Frenchman’s fate has taken this long to settle because it is a question Renard answered several times and did well to psyche the Zambian populous for his imminent exit as he put it on July 24, 2013.
“After the game in September (Ghana), I will decide what I want to do with my future in this country and people will decide what they want to do with me. But you will realize the job I have done with Patrice my assistant when I will be far from this country.
“This happens in life a lot of times, we appreciate the people when they are far because you realize that they were not so bad. I am telling you in advance what will happen in the future,” said Renard seemingly resigned to leaving at the end of the World Cup campaign.
At this stage it was clear what had to happen and none other than the Frenchman has this been clearer.
Let no one forget that Renard’s contract was tied to World Cup qualification and was knitted in the aftermath of the 2012 Africa Cup success.
Kambwili announced on February 16 that Renard would get a three year deal in the aftermath of Africa Cup glory and take Zambia to the World Cup.
Renard, who had signed an initial one-year deal after being re-hired in November last year (2011), was handed an extra three years to be in charge of Chipolopolo up to August 2014 when the World Cup would have been played in Brazil.
Kambwili had said having won the Africa Cup the target was World Cup qualification.
It all seemed smooth at that stage and six games into World Cup qualification, the team only managed two legitimate wins against Ghana at home (1-0) and Lesotho (4-0) at home with the free three points against Sudan coming in as a bonus after the North Africans had beaten Zambia 2-0 away in Khartoum before FIFA sanctioned Sudan.
To have even cried foul in Kumasi when Zambia had long lost the battle was a joke because the Chipolopolo were up against the Black Stars who had won four of their games in the World Cup race with a 1-0 loss against Zambia being the only blemish.
How on earth did Zambia expect to pick points against Ghana in Kumasi when they had failed to win against Lesotho in Maseru and also beat Sudan both at home and away? On the back of this performance was our crawling into the 2013 Africa Cup tournament after having to wait for a penalty shoot-out against the Cranes of Uganda. Fast forward to the tournament where the team only had draws to show for their defence of the crown they had won 12 months before. Draws against Ethiopia, Nigeria and Burkina Faso with a penalty and a Collins Mbesuma header to show for goals. What did the coach say? We did not lose any game-and I guess we were expected to be grateful to him for not having lost but booted out of the tournament.
With that came the anthem of promising World Cup qualification and once the dream blew apart the Frenchman resorted to blackmail.
He was quoted by The Post Newspaper on September, 8 in the aftermath of the 2-1 loss to Ghana.
“Yes this expectation from the people…your job is to talk. At the moment we finish our qualifiers, the issue is simple; I remain with the few months of my contract and the next qualifiers for Africa Cup will start in March 2014.
“So it’s not necessary to start the qualifiers if I am not extending my contract. But we have to sit, we have to talk about a lot of things because it’s important, because I want to improve and in our part we have to improve about a lot of things especially about organization,” Renard said.
“No, I won’t start the qualifiers if I don’t extend my contract, it’s not necessary. It’s better to have a contract during the period of the qualifiers. If it’s not the case, it’s better to start with someone else and to let him to work during all the qualifiers for Africa Cup. I think it will be a very intelligent decision for the FAZ and for me,” he said.
Renard said he was proud of what he had achieved as Chipolopolo coach in the last two years.
“We can’t play two games and after we stop and leave at the end of the contract, but this is not the most important today. March is far away, so we have to look at what we did during the last two years. I think we did very well in my opinion,” said the Frenchman who guided Zambia to its maiden AfCON trophy last year.
So why is he dilly dallying? Now his arsenals are out for local coaches who have described 2013 a failure. And rightly so because the national team’s failure to qualify for the African Nations Championship, World Cup and a failed Africa Cup early in the year were key targets.
Even more decorated coaches have seen the door for lesser crimes – ask ex-Madridstas Vincente Del Bosque, Manuel Pellegrini, Fabio Capello or closer to home his lieutenant Mr Kalusha Bwalya, Patrick Phiri with Under-20 World Cup experience to his CV and George Lwandamina another with World Cup pedigree at Under-20 level saw the door for not meeting set targets.
Anybody remind Renard of the failure is reminded of the 2012 Africa Cup glory we may as well have had more compelling reasons for keeping Dr Kenneth Kaunda as life President for delivering us the greatest prize of all time for us as a nation – FREEDOM!
“It is funny. We never heard them after winning some trophies,” Renard told the Zambia Daily Mail.
“They [coaches] can do it [criticise], no problem. They are just expecting to have a chance to get the job. This is part of the game. But they will never remove me.
“They have never won anything in their coaching life and they criticise. They can continue, no problem.”
The mail were kind enough to show that long before the Frenchman set foot in Africa, Zambia was already a known football country with notable accomplishments.
Brightwell Banda guided Zambia to victory at the 1984 CECAFA Cup, Freddie Mwila senior tutored Power Dynamos and won the Nelson Mandela Cup in 1991 and Zambia won the CECAFA Cup in 1991 under the tutelage of Samuel ‘Zoom’ Ndhlovu.
George Mungwa and Fighton Simukonda triumphed in the COSAFA Cup in 1997 and 1998, respectively, and Patrick Phiri engineered the Chipolopolo’s victory at the CECAFA Cup in 2006.
So monsieur Renard it is not us to shut up but do the honorable thing and save yourself some dignity because we are not paying you US$100, 000 to insult us and don’t think you are in Zambia on charity. You have to earn every penny!
A few people have some things to say about the team you escorted to Africa Cup glory after Italian Dario Bonetti qualified the boys to the 2012 Africa Cup. By the way thanks for acknowledging Zambia will be at Morocco 2015.
Because even without a coach or the only the ones you hold in so much low esteem, Zambia always has the talent to get by. Such is the rich football history since the Broken Hill Amateur Football Association brought organized football to Zambia in 1922.
The post Opinion: Renard’s Hour to Quit appeared first on Zambia Reports.