After reaching the last four against all odds, Cote d’Ivoire coach Herve Renard says “he is only interested in winning” ahead of their semi-final clash against DR Congo on Wednesday in Bata.
“Nobody was talking about us, if now they have changed their minds I don’t know. Few weeks ago, we were underdogs,” said the 46-year old Frenchman who won the Africa Cup of Nations title with Zambia in 2012.
“I don’t want to talk about 2012. History is different. Some of my players have a lot of experience, some of which are bad. In life, you can change your bad experience to good and can use bad memory to improve,” Renard told Cafonline.com.
“We have a different style than the Cote d’Ivoire team of the past. There are some players most people did not know before the tournament. They have worked very hard and shown they deserve to be in the team. We have a good balance between hard work and determination.
“To be realistic, we have our own expectations. When you start a tournament, your always want to be on the same line.”
“Offensively (DR Congo) they have a lot of skills with a different style. Their strikers have power and are strong in the air. They are dangerous offensively and a lot of them are used to be playing together. Their team spirit is very strong.
“I have to prepare my team psychologically,” added Renard, who expressed delight at the near back-to-fitness of midfielder Tiote, who sat out of the quarters due to injury.
“He has started light training and it will be difficult for him to start. But he will be in the team,” Renard said
Ghana will face hosts Equatorial Guinea in the other semis clash on Thursday, 5 February 2015 in Malabo.
I will always maintain that Herve Renard is mediocre. If you look at how he failed to beat 10 man Ethiopia and burkina walloped the same team it shows. Further he failed to win a single competitive game away from home. He even failed to beat Lesotho is maseru. When Janza Beat mozambique it was the first time zambia had won away since the days of dario bonetti. With or without Herve Renard this star studded Ivorian side can win afcon. With gervinho and max gradel on fire this is a big possibility for the elephants who have never been eliminated in the group stage for more than 10 years.
John I tell you, you will flee when this “mediocre” coach wins AFCON 2015 with a team which despite the quality of the players it has and top coaches who coached it, never won the tournament for more than a decade. Let’s wait and see.
ba john just like morinio who won it first with porto, then later got bigger offers and won it at every club he goes to, same HR won it with Zambia and is getting bigger offers. no surprise if he wins it with ivory coast. lets face it the guy is ambitious.
Let him go to hell, is it not the same Ivory Coast he was saying he would quit immediately after AFCON 2015? So now its praises. This guy is just an entrepreneur who is trying to maximize profit at every opportune time.
There isn’t a foreign coach out here in Africa who is not trying to make money. Why are you so bitter?
He’s actually headed for Lille!
Ivory Coast can win afcon even if Janza is coach. Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Ghana and drc have the best squads and African talent in europe at the moment. In fact the new fifa rankings should be as follows. 1. Ghana 2. Ivory Coast 3. Drc 4. Cameroon. These are the top 4 in africa zambia will not reach this stage until it exports to Europe.
Algeria is the best team that is never a champion like Brazil 82 team!
Herve Renard is not a factor he is simply a con man out to make money. His performance with zambia was pathetic to say the least to the extent that he failed to beat Sudan home and away and dropped crucial world cup points. Ivory Coast can win afcon with any coach given the quality they possess.
@john you are very right. herve is a crap coach banking on the briliance of the team. though tonite congo will test his abillity. the afcon he claims he won here was won by bonetti. boneti did all the hardwork then this pathetic coach found a very determined team destined to win the cup.
infact am seen herve getting fired today coz that congo team is a rampaging unit. let him not boast too early
Your “rampaging unit” is currently being rampaged upon by RENARD’s elephants.Kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!
Lol…you guys are funny man. Taking my spoon to dig umufolo where I can place these comments.
I’m sure you all are just praying for a DRC win so you can flood us with your “I have been vindicated” song. Anyway, we shall see.
RENARD ELEPAHNTS -1 GOAL BY YAYA TOURE
CONGO –1 IN THE 24TH MINUTES.. GOAL BY MBOKANI PENALTY.
RENARDS ELEPHANTS –2 CONGO KINSHASHA-.
GERVINHOS GOAL IN THE 41ST MINUTES..
IVC –2 CONGO KINGSHASHA 1
@ JOHN AND YOUR CO-HORTS GO AWAY! SIMPLY PUT U HAVE ACCOMPLISHED NOTHING IN UR MISERABLE EXISTENCE AND YOU WANT TO SCORN SOMEONE WHO HAS……
Crawl back under that rock from where u came!!!!!
Gentlemen, I fail to understand how the so called “pathetic” coach is able to analyze the other team’s system and lays out a solution to counter it. I think hatred at times clouds honest thinking.
I’m supporting Renard to win with Ivory Coast. You can see the difference he’s made with the team. Please John, analyse the games and not the team sheets 🙂
68TH MINUTES –RENARDS IVORY COAST–3 CONGO KINSHASHA –1
Zambia sucked with HR and still suck now because we don’t have quality players as our West African counterparts. Even Mourinho or sir Ferguson would fail miserably with Zambia as there is no good youth development. Kalu and his people are corrupt and that’s not helping either. So my fellow Zambians, we need to quit running our mouths as we not good at all in football.
Ghana will destroy e.guinea. IC vs Ghana final will be a good one, but I won’t be watching, I will just sleep through.
Looooooool
Why would you be sleeping??
Because I am angry and frustrations that I would be watching the teams better than mine.
Kikikiki muahahahahahahaha U ARE FUNNY BUDDY.!!
MY GOOD OLD PAL -TC, DONT SLEEP IF GHANA AND IVORY COAST GET TOGETHER IN THE FINALS ..TWO NEIGBOURING COUNTRIES
HITTING IT ON.. Haha!!
Renar is a good coach he changed our national team look at the way they played against Ghana though we lost.Tuletashako fimo amano kwati nindoshi chopeti!!
Nah John and hummer told me it was Bonnetti. haha, I do think we were playing some good football when HR was coach though. I did criticize though when were getting them draws, come to find out that we just suck and our players have no ambitions only want to playing in China and India.
end of procedings –renards elephants are in the finals
RENARDS IVC -3 CONGO KINSHASHA -1
By the time its all said and done, HR will go down as one of the best. If he wins this AFCON, don’t be surprised if France come calling. He is winning before he is not even 50 yrs old.
NEWSPAPER HEADLINE: “I HAVE BEEN VINDICATED CHOIR SILENCED….FOR NOW!”
RENARD’s Cote d’Ivoire is getting this cup. Come Saturday, RENARD haters will hug transformers.
oh its now on Saturday?
Oooops!
when you good you good,some of you busy critisezin Renar you dnt even know how to run your own toilet.This man is the best coach so far in Africa.
Blah blah Renard is a pathetic coach. Ivory Coast has top quality this has nothing to do with the pathetic coach. I tell you this Renard guy is so arrogant he will think he can coach in the English premier league if ivory Coast win him that trophy.
@John, please save yourself some embarrassment and swallow your pride. HR looks good now and he’s winning, don’t hate the man for no reason, that is just malicious and maybe you need to pray for yourself to be a better person as you are just sounding more and more clueless everytime you write something about HR. Just my opinion though.
Yes,Infact this pathetic coach will be fired immediately the players lift the cup all by themselves.
But John Cote d’Ivoire has always had top quality players and coupled with being coached by top quality coaches, HOW COME they never won this cup for more than a decade? And in 2012 was it not this same team with their top quality players including Drogba who failed to beat RENARD’s Chipolopolo? What will you say should your so called “pathetic” coach wins it where quality coaches failed?
Tawakwata amano katoloshi kobe,how many coaches have coached ivory coast with the best players and they have failed to win any major prophy? Think before you vomit amafi,you jx hate him for nothing hez a good coach.Bring bawiso tumone if he can coach nangu ba shikulu bobe chopeti
@Chanda that cracked me up.
Gervinho, max gradel, kalou, yaya toure, bony. This elephants team is solid and has consistently qualified to the world cup. I repeat with or without Renard civ can win afcon. Zambia needs to do serious work to produce another team to match civ again. But I do agree we need a new coach. Janza isn’t good enough to take is to the world cup.
” Zambia needs to do serious work to produce another team to match civ again”
All we need is call Bonetti to produce such a team.
Why didn’t they win it in 2012 when RENARD was not with them?
All in all lets give Kalu some credit for discovering HR,everyone knew HR as the Ghana physical trainer and that was all, but make no mistake, Kalu and his pompus attitude is destroying Zambian football and Kalu need to go.
Why should hate a man I don’t know and have never met. I’m simply telling you that Renard is pathetic. A good coach would have beaten 10 man Ethiopia in 2013. A good coach would have beaten Sudan at home in the munidial qualifiers. The guy is riding on the class of the elephants to build his cv. Ivory Coast has always gone far in the afcon since the drogba generation. Respect my opinion when I tell you this guy is crap.
Iwe John kapuli kobe uliwakwisa iwe wine? Muletasha nishi Renar aliku sendela sister obe?
A lot of you need to understand teams like Ghana, ivory Coast and to an extent Nigeria. It doesn’t matter who coaches these teams. These teams have classy players in europe and will not go out in the first round when they get to afcon. Zambia really needs to export to Europe to have any chance of competing with these nations.
Spot on!Our team was full of European stars when we lifted the cup under useless Renard.
No in that year it was all bonetti’s players which if it is bonneti then we don’t need to have players playing in Europe. lol
Ever taken the time to compare Renard’s team of 2010 & 2012 plus Bonetti’s team? It would be nice to see the team compositions! Just saying!!!!
@john your opinion is useless and pathetic jx like you.How do you jx hate a man for nothing kapuli kobe bring bawiso tumone.
Honor Janza to me has not done such a bad job though he isn’t good enough at least he won away something Renard failed to do against Ethiopia. Janza to is a mediocre coach but if he coaches Ghana he to will take the black stars to the semi-finals. Gone are the days of teams with local players winning afcon. No more flukes will win afcon. Only teams with European based stars will touch that trophy. Ghana and civ do not need great coaches to win afcon they have class on the pitch something u Zambians must take note!
The useless panelists at supersport(Daniel Amokachi,Marcel Dessailly,Andre arendse……) are right now showering praises on pathetic Renard.
How pathetic can you be sure? Which school did you go to mwe bantu where people dont reason and only bark endlessly!
If Renard is so great why did he fail to beat Lesotho in maseru, 10 man Ethiopia, Sudan home and away, zanzibar, Zimbabwe in chan his list of failures is endless please I am not interested. That coach is crap and riding on the class of yaya toure, bony and company.
This period you are talking about is when Renard, Chris Katongo and a number of other key people were losing their marbles, maybe even the fans if i remember correctly John, after riding high on 2012. No wonder HR doesnt want to talk about it. Even Kalu lost his marbles which is why he can sack Bonetti but let Janza take Zambia to Afcon.
Lost their marbles and there is no sign of them returning even now.
JUSTIN IS MY NAME
Evenif he failed to beat the teams you have listed,he is still the best chikali chi Renar your useless comments will remove nothing frm the name he is making.
Look, John, talk like a man and not one day say something and then the next day bend it!
Renard has allot of talent i always said, though i never believed he would have success at ivory coast but concede that maybe just maybe he will. Any way Ivory coast is always limited anyway…
And Renard is not without his flaws, but do i believe for one second he was not the right person to lead us in 2012 – NO.
Give me Ivory coast & I would at least take them to the semis. Even a blind man can coach the Ivory coast with yaya toure bony, Gervinho
This cup is going to Abidjan.
Hahaha Tc soccer man please don’t get carried away. Herve Renard would dismally fail as french national team coach. The European circuit is too competitive for this fluke coach. Ivory Coast is a quality unit. I can’t even understand why people are glorifying this fluke for getting them to the final
When you have two Manchester City stars in your starting 11 what is so shocking about getting to the final and winning afcon. Herve Renard can’t coach in europe he would fail there the competition is too much
Civ is a star studded team and this coach is riding on them just like he did when an emotional zambia let by Chris katongo won him afcon. The guy is crap. If you can’t beat a team with 10 men like Ethiopia you are not a coach
John please get some sleep.
Most of you get excited an emotional over nothing. This Renard can’t coach in europe he is a poor reader of the game. His pathetic tactics against Ethiopia cost zambia afcon 2013. His failure to read the game cost zambia the world cup in lesotho. A blind man can coach that ivory Coast team and get them into the final. Wilfred bony just signed for man City for an excess of 25 million pounds. Their wing back serge aurieir plays for French giants psg. This is the most star studded team In africa who told you Renard is making them tick haha haha. This elephants team can dismantle European teams like England with ease even with a blind man as coach.
Yaba but John you are really a lot of work. Ivory coast is not as great as you are praising them. If they are good enough to beat England with a blind coach why have they flopped in the world cups and previous AFCON?
please this Mr John is now irritating, So shallow minded and his ill up there. Lets give credit where its due. CIV with a star stubbed team failed to go far at the world cup.. John, your comments sucks so is you
I think @ John is right ,the French guy is pathetic and those saying he can coach in England that is a no football clubs there can not even Loook at him.Ivory Coast only gave him the job because of his African experience and there was no competition with the other applicates.God help Ghana to win this AFCON
Two Afcon titles under his belt at just 46…..HR will stand on the hill and laugh at the haters below. Yeah well agony is when your mind set is so boggled down to a couple of bad performances and you judge a coaches total capability on those performances and disregard everything else brilliant performances included.
That’s like a parent castigating his child for having failed in grade seven even after he has just hit seven distinctions in grade twelve and gone on to top his class in the first semester at university.
There is a question that the wailers have been asked over and over again which they just don’t want to answer and I will ask it again: IF ANY COACH CAN WIN AFCON WITH IC WHY HAVENT THEY WON IT ALL THESE YEARS?? THEY HAVE ALWAYS HAD GOOD EUROPEAN REPRESENTATION SO HOW COME?? Call me pathetic, call me arrogant, call me useless, call me anything negative your little mind perceives me to be but I’ve got titles and trophies in my cabinet what do you have??
JOHN IS TRYING TO COVER HIS NAKEDNESS WITH BRANCHES AND LEAVES BUT TO NO HELP. YOUR STUBBORNESS JST SHOWS HOW SHALLOW MINDED U R
I’m pretty sure CIV will take the cup. All HR has to do is motivate them…It wont even take much because these Ivorian players are sick and tired of seeing cups slipping through their fingures. For the 1st time we see Yaya play like he does in the EPL….That first goal was a cracker..no keeper in the world could have saved that! 39-year old Kidiaba should consider suing Yaya for unleashing unconventional fire power….
kikikikikiki.Rib cracker
This is pre-school kind of reasoning man!Grow up!
Lol Kampinda. You are right about that one. It was attempted murder mwe.
@Big Steve 4fm SA, these are men of little minds and egos and if you have them in your group they will do everything possible to bring you down.
How does one explain the fact a crap coach has produced results for Zambia and Ivory Coast? IC last won this cup 23 years ago maybe before some of these wailers were born or were in diapers.
If you cant respect and appreciate others then don’t expect the same from them. You can’t judge a coach based on a couple of games. If HR wins this cup with CIV then you can bet your wailing mouth that he will be an African Legend and the most sort after at the young age of 46 years.
He is in it because of money and passion. If afterwards a much better offer comes, i say take it HR. Let those noise makers go mad.
Dont count your chicks before they hatch, CIV has yet to win the cup. wait for the final.
Good advice
So did HR take over from another Bonnetti who had qualified the team CIV already to AFCON 2015? Has he not proven himself in the 6 games he played DRC, Cameroon both in the qualifiers and at AFCON? Now he is in the FINALS! The most successful coach to have ever coached Zambia, HERVE RENARD
The most successful coach to have ever coached Zambia, HERVE RENARD
AFCON Gold, COSAFA CUP Gold, CECAFA Bronze
This Mr John is now irritating, So shallow minded and his ill up there. Lets give credit where its due. CIV with a star stubbed team failed to go far at the world cup.. John, your comments sucks so is you.
It is amazing that a PE I instructor HR, is on the verge of making history within a space of 3 years. Another PE teacher in the name of Jose Maurinho is producing wonderful results in the EPL. What is it that makes PE instructors succeed. Please bloggers, never mind about these perpetual critics of HR. They claim to be football analysts and yet they are so empty.
But don’t you think it is so boring to be talking about the same things everyday. “Pathetic coach,”PE instructor, “A blind man can win. “Please lets try something new. personally, am irritated by the approach of some of these football analysts who thrive on hate and scorn
Calling Renard pathetic coz he his team failed to beat Lesotho is like calling Jose M and Pelegrini pathetic just coz their team were beaten by minors in the FA cup. Ba John you are just an attention seeker who says the same old things over and over again. It looks like HR is really spoiling your party big time. Life is too short to waste it on pathetic hating dude. Get real and show your’e a better blogger than this. Should you criticize Renard? Why not. Bit just don’t do it like a pre school chap.
Ba john lelo kanjipushe have you ever coached a team whether amateur or professional?
I like john but when it comes to HR he just loses it and he stops reasoning. When he starts commenting on HR his fellow wailers join him like STUMPY and Pastor Mulenga (by the way he has gone into oblivion). HR is a coach who brings a spirit of oneness and team work, he inspires players to put in their best. IVC has a star studied team but coaches have gone and come but they have failed to bring that extra thing in the players. In 2012 IVC was more fierce than now becoz the dreaded big man Diede was in the team but they failed to beat us becoz Zambia played as a unit. Thats the same spirit which is in this team now. Janza or any other coach cannot just win it as simple as that without a coach who can inspire players. My wish is that IVC win this cup and its my prayer that Ghana sail thru today so that some mouths can be shut. Whatever happens after that its none of anyones business becoz the guy would already have made history. He is right when he says nobody gave IVC any chance but now he has become a factor.
PATHETIC and ARROGANT HERVE RENARD is just a chancer. This Ivorian team has been together for ages. They have built chemistry over the years. The wiring is on the wall. They are winning the AFCON this year!
i think you need a big spoon for you soya milk
@John, Lets use scientific evidence when analyzing soccer. Yes Herve Renard is no Carlo Ancelloti or Jose Morinho. His strength lies in making a team play as a collective unit as opposed to individual. If you have followed this Ivorian team from around 2006 you will agree with me that they never defended in numbers as they are doing now.
Herve has a man to man coach approach which works and at times it doesn’t. The same Herve who failed to win a 10 Man Ethopia managed to score when he had 10men on the field that was against a formidable guinea side. Yes he may not be the best coach but his far much better than most coaches that have coached most African sides.
People are just jealous of the man HR. He has achieved a lot with his humble background. Your continued hate of the man will yield nothing. It is high time you shifted focus to Janza (Kumbele),who is your current coach and leave the Frenchman alone. For 23 years IV has not won the prestigious AFCON and HR is on the verge of delivering it. Keep on hating him and he will keep on delivering.
Kay Hummer :
What has happened to your prediction of HR failing as coach of IV and that he will soon be fired ?
I asked the same question a couple of threads ago but alas……no answer!!!! kekekekeke!!!!
We are all in a dream.He has already been fired.We would find out once we wake up
If Zambian’s level of intellectual capacity is judged by what these chaps called John and Stumpy have set themselves in discussions here,I shudder to think of what people around them insinuate about how we reason as Zambians.
I think we should wait for the final before placing HR on the pedestal. A certain Ghana may have something to say about that or is it Eq Guinea and their gang of referees.
By the way, what’s the status on Mayuka?
POSITIVELY THINKING –I BELIEVE THE GHANA BLACK STARS AND THE ELEPHANTS WILL MEET IN THE FINALS..
ABOUT Errrm!! MAYUKA ,, KWAME DONT HAVE A CLUE.. IS MAYUKA NOT GOING TO CHINA?
REALISTICALLY, MAYUKA AND SUNZU ARE SIGNED TO GO TO THE EAST –CHINA..
Ivory Cost in the final! john alaisundawila.
Kwameh, if Ghana make the final then it will definitely be a final about two teams with bags of potential soon to be realized. It will be a final that would be played by two of the most talented teams. I hope it is a Ghana vs IV, but we have to wait and see what happens with Eq Guinea vs Ghana. If Ghana underestimate them, they might find themselves going home as semi finalists again.
Win or loose the final, Herve is an instant Legend. Just getting to a 2nd final in 3 years is no easy feat. The thing people are missing is that, he had a tough qualifying group to navigate and then another tough bracket to get to the final. All he has done is prove that the man wins against the big guys, and this Ivory coast team is not the best in recent memory but are proving to be efficient and relying on each other(a Renard trait)! He does not have to win the final to prove his pedigree, he already is A GREAT ONE!
Hey fellas, its’s been ages!
Is John still ranting on and on about Renard? LOL… Don’t give yourself a heart attack man!
Eish Chineke long time indeed, good bless you, good hearing from you. How are things in Naija? You guys still holding on to our coach Keshi? Release him I beg, Keshi na Zambia coach period.
Ba john poor way of looking at things try to look at achievements and move foreward not to concetrate on hicups on your way up life is not smooth always
45TH MINUTES –GHANA BLACK STARS 2 –EQUITORIA QUINEA -0
GAME ON!!
WELL AFTER -THREE GOALS TO GHANA, THERE IS A CONTROVERSY BETWEEN EQG SUPORTERS THROWING WATER PLASTIC BOTTLES TO THE GHANAIAN SUPORTERS.
I BELIEVE THE MATCH MUST BE ABONDONED.. A WIN MIGHT COME TO GHANA TO THE FINALS IF THE REFEREE STOPED THE MATCH..
John! Come out of it! How can everyone be against you? Just swallow your pride and accept you are wrong. That’s how great men, whatever the field, do.
A top class coaching a top class team, Herve renard is going places, even his stint at Sochaux was never a failure. I have a feeling feel as though he owes Zambian for all his success, if renard coaches a european club he may even scout for raw talent in the zambian league.
He even took mediocre players like sunzu and sinkala to Europe because of his soft spot for zambian talent.