Ivorians predict difficult Cup final against Zambia

The pre-tournament favourites beat Mali 1-0 in Wednesday’s semi-final in Libreville to make it to the show piece event for the first time since 2006.
And Ivorian stars Kolo Toure and Salomon Kalou admit that it has not been an easy passage to the final.
“It’s been a really difficult three weeks,” Toure told BBC Sport.
“We are really happy, but now there is another game against Zambia.
“The spirit I have, the spirit we all have, is to fight together as a team” said Salomon Kalou
“They are a really good team and it’s going to be a very tough game.
“It means a lot to our country. The people there have been suffering so much.
“The only thing that brings them together is the national team and we try to do as well as we can.”
Toure also believes his team-mates will be able to cope with the pressure of being huge favourites against Zambia.
“We are used to that pressure. We’ve learnt from all the mistakes we’ve made in the past, this has been helping us.
“On Sunday we need to prove we have the experience and that all the bad times we’ve had make us improve. That’s the most important thing.”
Kalou, meanwhile, paid tribute to Gervinho, who scored the winner against Mali after an impressive run from the halfway line.
“It was a great goal, a solo goal, finished with a classic inside foot,” Kalou said.
“We’ve been working hard the last 18 months to get to that level.
“It’s a moment we want to enjoy. Then we have to focus again for the final on Sunday.
“It’s going to be a very difficult game. We are 90 minutes from our goal and I think that’s not a chance to miss.
“The spirit I have, the spirit we all have, is to fight together as a team.”
Kalou added that a change in their tactics, introduced by head coach Francois Zahoui, has played a big part in their success.
“We are more organised, we are not conceding goals, that’s the basis of football,” he said.
“With the strikers we have, we can score at any moment so the most important thing is to organise ourselves and then we know Gervinho, Didier Drogba, Yaya Toure or myself can make the difference.”
The Elephants will be seeking to win the Cup of Nations trophy for the first time in 20 years against the Chipolopolo on Sunday.
Their only previous triumph came when they beat Ghana in the final in 1992.
Meanwhile Herve Renard believes reaching the final of the Africa Cup of Nations has vindicated the decision to reappoint him as Zambia’s national coach.
Speaking ahead of tomorrow’s showdown with Cote d’Ivoire in Libreville, Renard said that he took up the job against a backdrop of split public opinion.
The Frenchman was re-hired for the second time to replace Dario Bonetti.
The Italian was fired in October, 48 hours after securing qualification for Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.
The reason given at the time by Kalusha Bwalya, president of the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ), was that the Italian was not up to the job.
If that was not controversial enough, Bwalya then asked Renard to come back – nearly two years after the former Ghana assistant coach had quit the Zambian job.
Renard was in charge of Zambia’s 2010 Nations Cup campaign, leading them to the quarter-finals.
He left shortly afterwards to take charge of Angola but he only lasted a handful of months with the Palancas Negras, before trying his hand at club football in Algeria.
But as he prepares his squad for this year’s grand finale, Renard is buzzing with excitement.
“Not everyone in Zambia understood why I left to go to Angola, and not everyone understood why I came back either,” Renard told BBC Sport on Friday.
“People were upset when I left in 2010, but they don’t even know the real reason why I left.”
The Chipolopolo coach went on to praise the man who invited him to take up the Zambian reins once more, ahead of this Nations Cup campaign.
“If there was a problem between me and Kalusha or with the football association, I don’t think Kalusha would have asked me to come back.
“I respect people’s opinions but I’m sure they will look at what this team has done and see that it was a good decision for me to come back.
“People wanted to remove Kalusha from the presidency because of my appointment but I don’t know anyone else who can do the job like him.
“For me personally, it’s important to win the cup and give it to him on Sunday. He deserves it.”
Although few people envisage a Zambian victory on Sunday, Renard said Cote d’Ivoire players know that they can never underestimate his side.
The assistant coach of Ghana during the 2008 finals said, however, that he is under no illusions as to the size of the challenge facing his team on Sunday.
“It’s like we’re in front of one big mountain.
“We have to climb it but we don’t have a helicopter and we don’t have a car.
“We just need to have a lot of courage and to think “yes, we can do it”. I’m one hundred percent sure we can do it.” – BBC Sport.