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LUSAKA. — Zambia coach, Herve Renard, says securing Chipolopolo’s ticket to the 2014 African Nations Championship in South Africa with a victory over Zimbabwe in Ndlola tomorrow is one of his biggest priorities for the team this year.The Frenchman saw his Nations Cup defence end in the first round in South Africa this year and wants to return to the Rainbow Nation, in January next year, with a battalion of home-based players to try and win the CHAN tournament.
It has been quite a challenging year for Renard and his team and they find themselves one victory away from qualifying for the final phase of the African qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup, with a win in Kumasi over Ghana next month doing just that.
Renard has also helped Chipolopolo win back the Cosafa Cup, with a 2-0 victory over Zimbabwe at the Levy Mwanawasa, to make up for the 3-1 mauling they received at the hands of the Warriors when the tournament was last held in Harare in 2009.
Now Renard’s focus on getting it right in taking Zambia to the CHAN finals and he knows that his team needs victory against the Warriors.
The Chipolopolo home-based players face a final litmus test against Zimbabwe in the crucial ‘Battle for Zambezi’ CHAN qualifier at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola with the winner booking a ticket to South Africa.
Renard said he had set three goals for the year, reclaiming the Cosafa Cup, qualifying for the CHAN finals and also qualifying for the 2014 World Cup finals.
“We had three goals — winning the Cosafa, qualifying for the CHAN and also qualifying to the World Cup.
“We’ve achieved our first goal of winning Cosafa, now we’ve to get our second target of CHAN qualification,” he said. Renard appealed to the fans to take advantage of the reduced gate charges and turn up in numbers to cheer the team to victory.
He said the fans did well during the Cosafa Cup but was disappointed with the low attendance in the recent CHAN qualifier against Botswana.
The Football Association of Zambia has slashed gate charges for the tickets for the Zimbabwe match, with three of the four wings costing only K50 and K20, respectively.
FAZ spokesperson, Erick Mwanza, said the seats on the eastern lower and upper decks will cost K50 and K20 while the northern and southern seats will cost K20.
Mwanza said the Zimbabwe fixture was crucial as it would decide Zambia’s future in the CHAN, hence the need for the fans to pack the stadium to the rafters. Chipolopolo has since shifted base to Ndola and they thrashed Division One side Kalewa 4-0 in a practice match with with Zanaco striker Moses Phiri scoring a brace while Alex Ngonga and Boyd Musonda added the other two goals.
Zambia last qualified to the CHAN finals in the inaugural 2009 edition.
So far hosts South Africa and 12 other countries have qualified to the 2014 CHAN finals, leaving only three slots to complete the line-up.
The Chipolopolo boys tested their ammunition ahead of Saturday’s African Nations Championship second leg final qualifying round against Zimbabwe with an emphatic 4-0 victory over Division One side Kalewa in a training game played at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola.
Chipolopolo midfielder Bruce Musakanya says he is confident that Zambia will qualify for the CHAN finals. “I know we will qualify for the finals,” said the Red Arrows midfielder.
“It was a tough game for us (in Harare), but a draw is a good result for us considering that we were playing on the artificial turf which we are not used to. We will do a lot better playing on the natural grass in Zambia because we are used to it.” — Times of Zambia
Online Reporter