Renard regrets poor planning

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CHIPOLOPOLO coach, Hervé Renard has said poor organisation and half-hearted commitment towards international matches for the national team are among the reasons he is contemplating leaving Zambia.

Renard was speaking on an online radio station, Blogtalk where he expressed disappointment with the travel arrangements for the crucial away tie to Ghana for the September 6, Brazil 2014 World Cup qualifier in Kumasi.

Renard was voicing out his frustrations about poor organisation and Zambia’s failure to make the Brazil 2014 World Cup finals.

He said Zambia had made a lot of progress on the pitch as seen in the levels of competition, but was still lagging behind in game organisation, a part he said needed to be improved on by having competent people in the right places.

Asked about on rumours that he intended to abandon Zambia, Renard said he could stay if the area of administration was improved.

“I don’t know even me whether I will stay or go. I still have some meeting, but I mentioned to FAZ (Football Association of Zambia) president Kalusha Bwalya that if you want me to go far with this team, to stay longer in Zambia, we have to improve in organisation,” he said.

The Frenchman who kept on emphasising that truth be told said, Ghana should not be blamed for Zambia’s shambolic trip to Kumasi.

He said he was hugely disappointed with the travel arrangements for the crucial away tie to Ghana.

“I met Kalusha and I told him that, ‘If you want me to stay more in Zambia, you will have to improve on organisation’. This is not the first time I have complained about poor travel arrangements. This destroys all efforts put in.

“This is no time to lie and argue about what happened, we have to move forward. Let’s not start blaming one individual for the Ghana trip, but look at how we can make better plans in the future,” said Renard whose three-year contract expires in July next year.

He mentioned the chaotic travel to Sudan where Zambia lost, but was lucky to get three points after the hosts fielded an ineligible player saying some countries plan for matches two years ahead.

He gave an example of one of the best ways to prepare for a crucial outing to the India trip where Zambia travelled with a majority of local players ahead of the 2012 Africa Cup saying it allowed him to see a few more players; two of them immediately made the Africa Cup winning team – Chisamba Lungu and Nathan Sinkala.

He said that was the way to get ready for crucial matches and Zambia should have done something similar the day the nation knew they had to beat Ghana away.

On the hostile experience in Ghana, he said all the problems experienced were self-inflicted adding that blame should not be shifted to Ghana because Zambia arrived late and the decision to go to stadium despite being one hour late was in the hope they could loosen up on the running track.

“They stopped us from going in but we had lost three days so we had to stretch a bit. We stretched and it was important. It was unfortunate that we did not have Jacob Mulenga and Collins Mbesuma.

“Jacob scored against Lesotho, against Sudan and also in the friendly against Senegal, but that is football, we have to live with it,” he said.

He hailed Zambia as a country with a lot of talented players who could make it big on the international scene and said that FAZ was trying hard to make sure Zambia does not run out of players by concentrating on youth football.

Without giving names, he cited the Coca-Cola Schools football tournament and the Airtel Rising Stars as tournaments that are important to Zambian football development and will always draw out youth talent.

He praised the Zambian people for the good hospitality saying, they have always given him sentimental feelings about the country and that he has felt at home from the time he came to Zambia in 2008.

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